tattooed huntress
by zoddnosferatu
Summary: An AU, semblances are no longer what you are born with. but what you grow and add to with time. tattoo magic is the way people grow their power. tattoos mixed with dust, and tattoos mixed with Grimm blood. these give hunters and huntresses the power to kill Grimm.
1. Chapter 1

(a/n)

I do not own RWBY, or any of its characters. I own my ideas for ink magic and its uniqueness in the world of RWBY. But that is all. Please enjoy, leave a review if you like the idea, or tattoo ideas if you think of good ones. Fallow the story if you find it worthy. -Zodd-

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I've been reading a lot of tattoo magic books lately. And RWBY came into my mine as the most fitting way to use this unique power. In this story semblances are no longer what you are born with. They are tattoos of power passed down from parent to child, as well as sold on the open market. The tattoo's use dust, mixed with ink, to bind with the person's aura. Giving them whatever unique ability the tattoo implies.

Blood of animals can also be added, giving the tattoos altered characteristics. The most well know of which is Ursa blood mixed with earth dust, giving the owner added strength. Strength equal to that of a Ursa.

Basic uses of dust in tattoos.

[Fire dust]- allows fire blasts. Extremely deadly to the owner, fire dust is very dangerous and it often burns the user alive during the first use.

[Earth dust]- used for reinforcement. Most commonly used to strengthen the skin, making it harder for blades and Grimm claws to harm the user.

[Wind/Air dust]- used to make a person lighter. A rarely used dust, most hunters are not concerned about their weight. But it is often used my military, allowing more shoulders to ride in a smaller vehicle, because of their decreased weight.

[water dust]- allows for the manipulation of water, but it is extremely taxing on the user's mind. Most people with this as a main tattoo die after trying to control to much water for too long.

Mixing these four basic dust types, opens a nearly infinite amount of abilities, most of which are closely guarded family heirlooms. But over time, research teams and small business men have created and sold tattoos. Now it is a common sight to see teens of all ages showing off the latest trendy tattoo. Or adults looking at their arms and legs, remembering the days of their youth.

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(chapter 1-Ruby rose) [ruby pov]

"Ruby, hey Ruby" Yang asked, waving her hand in my face "have you decided where you're going to get your second ever tattoo?" Yang asked. Hearing her excited attitude, I pushed away the feeling my fist tattoo gave me.

"geez, Yang. It's really hard for me to choose. There are so many shops" I asked, looking at a map of the city. There were tattoo shops at almost every corner, most only sold basic run of the mill tattoos. But that is not what I'm looking for. I want one that is truly unique

"well hurry up, I made an appointment with Junior. And he is impossible to reschedule with" Yang said. She made that appointment over a month ago, apparently this Junior guy was a big deal in the underground tattoo world. Rumor is, he has a way to tattoo your eyes, allowing you to change their color whenever you want. How cool is that!

"maybe I'll-" I started but a hand cut me off. "absolutely not. You are going to get a legitimate tattoo. I can't allow my baby sister to be corrupted by the powers of the underground tattoos" Yang said, much to my annoyance. It was totally okay for her to get an underground tattoo, but I wasn't allowed. Total Hippocratic. "but Yang, that last one you got is sooooo, cool. You can make your hair appear to be on fire!" I said, gleefully remembering her latest tattoo

She put her hand on my shoulder. It was comforting, and I knew she was in 'big sister mode' and no matter how much I begged. I wouldn't be getting an illegal tattoo any time soon. "Ruby, you should start out small. You're finally 15, you've reached the age where you can buy your own tattoos. So go and get a good one. Don't let your first scare you into never getting your second"

I nodded, I focused on a small crack in the floor, not wanting Yang to see the tears that memory brought up. "okay" I mumbled. Then looked back up at the map. Closing my eyes, I held out a finger, and randomly placed it on the map. "here" I said opening my eyes, "from dust till dawn, I like it. It's a clever name" then turned to my sister. She had a hopeful look in her eyes.

"do you need me to go with you?" she asked. But I could tell she really wanted to get to that Junior guy's place. "no, I will be fine" I took a long breath "I think it will be better if I get it alone. I need to face this without fear" I said. Hoping I sounded as brave as possible. But I think Yang saw through me. To my surprise she didn't comment on it. Just gave me a hug and said "just call when it's over, we'll meet up and get lunch, okay?" I nodded my agreement, and just like that she was gone

As I started walking towards the combination Tattoo/dust shop. I started thinking about what kind of tattoo I wanted. Maybe a strength one, not that I needed it. Crescent Rose was heavy, but I'm already plenty strong enough to use her without effort. Plus, Yang might think I'm copying her.

After my walk, I was standing in front of the small shop I chose to get my first tattoo, well my first tattoo I had an option in getting. But I banished that thought before it could take hold and ruin my day. Walking into the store, I was greeted by a friendly looking old man. Well aged, he looked like a proud man. Smile lines framed his mouth, showing how he doesn't let life get him down.

"good afternoon young lady. How may I help you today?" the old man asked.

"um, hi" my confidence suddenly took a nose dive. 'oh no, I can't do this alone. I really do need Yang' I thought in a panic "I'llbegoingnow,thankyouforyourtime" I garbled out in a rush to leave the store.

As I turned my head to face the door, my eyes briefly went across something I never expected. Turning back from the door, I froze. Looking at the wall of tattoo options the man had on display. Hidden amongst the coined term "useless tattoos" I saw a blooming rose tattoo. It almost perfectly matched my symbol. I walked over to the tattoo wall. "what does this one do?" I asked, hoping it wasn't just an old-school tattoo, those don't even use dust, they are purely for looks. How boring.

"hummm, that's an odd choice, not many people appreciate such tattoos. Most kids these days are all about the latest 'power tattoo' but my specialty is these, 'effect tattoos' and this one hasn't been chosen in a long time. Almost 25 years ago" the man was right. No one really cared about tattoos that didn't add some sort of ability. And 25 years! Is this guy still skilled enough to hold a needle still while it stabs my skin!

"as for its effect. It's a favorite of mine. It senses when a 'power tattoo' activates. And releases a stream of rose petals both distracting and confusing an enemy" he said. The description triggered a memory in my mind. But my mother's face showed up, so I stopped the memory before it could take hold.

"I'll take it please" I said. He nodded, happy to do a tattoo he was fond of. "where would you like it. A tattoo of this nature can go anywhere, so if you have plans for any future tattoos, this one doesn't need to take their spots" he asked. I thought, there were tattoos that needed to go on certain body parts, and some had to be on an exact location of that body part. But it's nice that this one has the freedom to be wherever the owner wishes.

"how about the tip of my spine, that way the petals will flow down my cape and fallow my when I run" I say, thinking about it as I say it aloud. That would look so cool, it would tie perfectly in with my other tattoo. And it would help with my dream to become a huntress, a tattoo that would distract creatures of Grimm. Nothing sounded better.

"alright young lady. Come on back and we'll give you a beautiful new tattoo" the man smiled, making his face seem younger then he actually was. I fallowed him back, seeing a reclining chair. He quickly adjusted it and laid it down flat, and gestured for me to lay down. Fallowing his instructions, I laid down on my stomach. Undoing my cape, and shifting the top of my shirt to expose the spot just below my neck.

"um, this is my first tattoo. So I'm sorry ahead of time if I freak out" I said, doing my best to look at the floor. I didn't want him to know of my other tattoo. I was too young at the time I received it, so if I told the man he might report it, and my dad could get arrested. So a small lie was my go to for this situation. He seemed to know better. After all, this tattoo I was getting was a tattoo that activated when another tattoo activated, so it was pointless alone. But the old man just smiled and said "don't worry, I use needles coated in ice dust, it numbs the skin, reducing both pain and swelling. It'll just feel like an ice cube is resting on your skin"

That filled me with relief. At least it wouldn't hurt. "would you mind talking to me about the mixture used to create this ink, I would like to know how it works, and talking will distract me" I asked the man. Most people were very secretive about their tattoo inks, so I wouldn't be hurt if he refused. To my surprise he said "I would be happy to. I'm not the person who originally created it, so I don't mind giving out its secrets"

As the buzz of the tattoo gun started, I forced my mind to focused on his voice, instead of the bone piercing sound of the cursed machine. "a woman, almost your age came to me when I owned a tattoo shop in the southern most point of Vale. This woman walked into my shop with a piece of paper, this rose was beautify drawn on it. Along with the formula for the ink. I was very skeptical at the time. But she explained that she didn't have the skill to tattoo herself. And wanted to sell me the design and formula. After explaining what it did, I gleefully bought it. After all, 'pointless tattoos' are a rare find. Her only request was she be the first to receive it. On her back, even at such a young age, she was already filled with tattoos. If I were to guess, she was probably a huntress. But I gave her the tattoo like she asked. As for the ink, and how it's made. Its brilliantly simple. Two pinches of earth dust, a rose seed ground to dust. A half pinch of water dust, and a spoonful of Boarbatusk blood, the blood allows the rose essence to flow out much like after a Grimm dies, when its body returns to Ether. The earth and water dust, create a self-fueling system to grow flowers and release the petals very quickly." The man finished his story and his explanation.

It was then I realized the tattoo gun hadn't been running for some time. He must have kept talking in order to trick me into not knowing when the tattoo was done. What a nice man. A sat up and fixed my shirt. Then re-tied my cape "this was nowhere near as scary as I thought. Thank-you so much for this" I honestly told the man.

As we walked back into the front store, where most of the dust, that's for sale, is kept. When a man fallowed by several other men. The other men, five in total. Were all dressed in the same outfit, an all back suit with a bright red tie, they all also had fedoras and dark black sunglasses. Making no move to remove the glasses, even though they were inside now I got a suspicious feeling from them.

The man "leading" them was completely different. He wore a white suit with a gray ascot. But still wore a fedora. He was casually swinging a cane while walking in like he owned the place. "don't move unless you would like to get hurt. This is a robbery. Boys" at the word 'boys' the men in black started to steal the dust and dust crystals from this old man's shop.

"are-are you robbing me" I said, trying to sound meek and scared. One of the men walked up and smugly looked into my face, way too close for comfort. "duhh" he said to me. And with that I kicked him through the window of the shop.

Everyone's head snapped too me. The men in black looked ready to run, but looked at the man in white, who said "well, get her" pointing his cane in my direction. As if they had one mind, the four remaining men rushed to me, using the best fighting skills I had (which is like elementary school karate lessons) I blocked and punched until all the man laid on the ground at my feet. Groaning and holding various body parts that I managed to hit. When I looked up for the man in white. He was running outside. I turned to the old man "do you mind if I go after him?" I asked. "please, and consider your tattoo paid for, you saved my shop today" he said

Resisting the urge to hug him in thanks, I ran after the white suit man. I caught up with him in no time. He was pathetically slow at running. He turned hearing my footsteps "well it's like they say. If you want it done, do it yourself" he said before pointing his cane right at me. And fired a fire dust round. I projected my aura to absorb the blast. It still managed to knock me down. I used that to my advantage. Taking out my sweetheart. Crescent Rose, I held her out front and triggered her expanding from. In a symphony of mechanical parts, I was now holding a quarter-ton bolt action sniper scythe. 'she' normally rest on my back, in a compact form. But during fights I let her free.

I slammed the blade into the ground. Creating a makeshift mount. I readied the sniper barrel lining it up for the shot. The man seemed frozen in fear. Yah, my baby has that effect on people. I fired off shots as fast as I could. The man shook himself out of his daze. And fired his cane, blowing up my rounds as his own hit them. A cloud of dust now separated us. Preventing me from seeing him. When suddenly a red fire crystal comes flying over top of the dust cloud. Just as I was lifting crescent rose out of the ground. A sparkling blast flew through the dust cloud -dispersing it- before hitting the crystal right as it was at eyelevel.

In a flash of light I was temporally blinded. When my vison returned, the man was gone. I searched the area. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the man climbing the fire escape to the top of a building. Weird. That would trap him if I fallowed. So I did just that, I stood on my scythe, and fired a shot. Blasting me upwards, right onto the top of the building this man was climbing. He reached the top moments after I did. Seeing me he said in frustration "aren't you a persistent one" before leaping off the building. I rushed over to see if he survived the fall. When an air carrier flew right past my face. The man standing in the cargo area.

"see you later red" he said. Then threw a crystal twice as big as the previous towards me. 'this one might hurt' I thought. Having no time to act. His shot hit the crystal and it exploded in a fireball that would impress Yang. But to my shock I was unharmed. I noticed a translucent purple bubble surrounding me. 'It must have shielded me' I thought. When I looked for the caster, I saw a tall blond woman walking to me. Riding crop in hand. 'oh Oum, is she going to beat me' I disturbingly thought.

She lowered her hand, which was tattooed with a runic circle on the palm. Most likely what projected the shield that saved me. Then proceeded to raise both arms, the giant chunks that the explosion blasted apart, started to levitate. 'holy cookies! she has telekinetic tattoos' I joyfully thought. An almost lost form of tattoo, so old that books with paper withering away told of them as distant memory's. 'she must be from a family that keeps really old secrets' I thought watching more and more debris rise into the air.

The debris formed a giant spear. Bigger than the ship. In a fluid motion it flew at the airship. Pelting it with large rocks and forcing the pilot to take extreme measures to stay in the air. The man In white panicked. Running to the front of the ship. When a slender woman stepped out, mostly out of view. I saw her as a threat, I'm not sure why, but my mind told me to incapacitate this new figure. So I halfway folded my sweetheart. She was now in a sniper only form. Allowing me to fire off rounds without the barrel being weighed down by the scythe blade. I fired of three quick shots, basic dust rounds. They were given to all students of Signal academy. The shots flew through the air, but the woman rose her hand and with a flash of fire, my bullets disintegrated before doing any damage.

Seeing the pointlessness of my actions. I stood out of the way, allowing the blond huntress next to me, to work. the spear she reformed and was about to hit the airship again. When the woman inside of the ship threw out her hands. From them a blast of fire shot out. Turning the debris spear into a scattered pile of rubble, but the blond woman still had a telekinetic hand on them. Raising them into the air above the air ship. She started to rain them down. Forcing the ship to bob and sway, the force of the debris greater than the updraft.

The woman in the ship seemed annoyed by the rocks hitting the ship. And in a complex hand gesture, a ring of fire formed around the ship. The fire immediately blew out in all directions, destroying every piece of floating rubble controlled by the huntress. The fire was next heading right for the two of us. In response another purple shield formed, covering both of us in its protective embrace. When the flames cleared the airship was gone. Leaving nothing but the destroyed roof we stood on.

The blond woman turned to look at me. "young lady! What were you thinking?!" those words rolled right off of me. In response I gleefully shouted "Can I have your autograph!?" she seemed taken back by my request. "come with me. I'll need to ask you what happened today, and I would rather not do that on this destroyed roof" she then turned and started walking to the fire escape. 'I should call Yang first. She'll probably be really worried if I don't tell her what happened"

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(juniors bar){moments after Ruby told yang about the fight} [Yang pov]

"Okay ruby. Go with the huntress. Me and dad will pick you up when you're done. Stay safe" I hung up the phone. I looked around the mostly empty bar, it was a nightclub after all. Only the truly desperate come here for a drink at this hour. Seeing the men that worked for junior standing around. All wearing the exact same get up. black suit, red tie, black fedora with sunglasses. The same clothing of the me that attacked my baby sister. I controlled my breathing. Activating my newest tattoo so soon would give away my intentions to junior. They were a cool set of tattoos.

Two small red veins, tattooed directly into the whites of my eyes. A small amount of Grimm blood, allows my eyes to shift colors when my emotions become dominantly angry. It was mostly aesthetic, the tattoo itself was actually available on the open market. But mine was different. Mine had more than the recommended amount of Grimm blood. So when they shift to red, I get eyes that have the same quality's as the Grimm they come from, night vision, motion tracking, and if I get really angry, heat vision.

It was what made Junior such a popular man in the tattoo world. He took aesthetic tattoos, and gave them hidden powers. But all of my admiration for him vanished when I got that call from Ruby. I walked back up to the bar. Leaning over and getting Junior's attention I waved him over. "what can I do for you blondie, want another tattoo already?" he joked. I love a good (or bad) joke as much as the next guy. But now was not the time. "did you happen to lend a few of your men out to a man in a white suit today?" I asked, my smooth tone hiding the fire growing under my skin. His face dropped the joking look instantly "who are you to ask me questions?" I took that as a yes

I released the ragging fire of anger, I blinked and stared him down. His eyes widened in fear. I was so angry the full power of the tattoos was in effect. I decided to call the [yangry eyes] "those boys you sent out, had a run in with my sister" I pushed my hands down, activating my weapons in the process. Ember Celica, a dual shotgun powered set of gantlets. They covered up my first set of tattoos. Family heirlooms, passed down from my mother. Much like Ruby's, thinking about them caused all sorts of bad memory's. For different but similar reasons.

"loo-look, blondie. I don't want no trouble. You got your tattoo. There is no need to cause a seen" Junior said, trying to calm me down. It wasn't working. "you see, I care more for my baby sister than anything else in this world. And your men threatened her today" I said. I could feel the bodyguards in the room all start to inch there way closer to me. 'perfect' I thought

In a fluid motion, I punched Junior from across the bar. Seeing this, his men took action. But with their boss taken down I had the upper hand. They rushed me all at once. Pinning me under a dogpile. All the while throwing in any punches and kicks they could hit me with. I took them all, I cared vary little for the pain and bruising I was getting. All of their own power was about to be used against them. The two tattoos on my wrist started to heat up, indicating their readiness.

These tattoos were special. From the Branwen women family tree. They took the damage done to my person, and after my aura healed the damage, the tattoos released the energy converted from the attacks. It varied from person to person what that energy tuned into. For me, it gave me strength. The greater I got beaten, the stronger my next attack would become.

After I allowed these men to feel like they had the upper hand, I decided to attack back. In a burst of strength, I threw everyone form on top of me. Most landed in defeated heaps all around the floor. 'pathetic' I thought, seeing only a handful get back up. the few remaining men rushed me. I fired of a shotgun blast, knowing these men, even though they were weak, had the aura ability to heal these injuries. I took out two in quick succession. Allowing the next set to come in closer. When they predictably did, I upercutted them with the full strength of the tattoos. 'it probably felt like a truck ran them over' I thought, seeing the last remaining man refuse to come close to me. I decide to let him off. That way those who forgot this day, would remember my wrath.

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(back with ruby) {Police interrogation room 4} [Ruby pov]

"do you know how dangerous it was for you to be engaged in a battle today?" the blond huntress said. I now knew her as Glenda Goodwitch. I world class huntress, and most known for being the second in command at the hunter school Beacon academy. "you could have been hurt! You could have been killed! However" I was shrinking at her every word, but I regained some confidence at the last word "your actions today were as noble as they were ill-conceived. If it were up to me I would send you home with a pat on the back" she smiled nicely, then frowned "and a slap on the wrist" she slammed her ridding crop on the table. Causing me to recoil in an attempt to move away from the scary weapon.

"one final person wishes to talk to you before you can go" she stepped away from the door, allowing the man to step into the dim light of the room. He held a coffee cup, in the same motion, he sat down and took a sip of coffee. "what is such a young girl doing with such a dangerous weapon?" the man asked. Then out of nowhere he pulled out a giant plate, filled with the gift of the gods. Cookies! I inhaled as many as I could, fearing they might be taken away before I finished them. "fu-ph, m-y u-nckf-l" I garbled out from a mouthful of food. Realizing he had no clue what I said, I swallowed hard, forcing the cookies down. "from my uncle" I said after I could breathe. "I only know of one person who uses a weapon similar to this" he said, leaning back in his chair taking a sip from his mug

I finally fully looked into his eyes, 'he must know Qrow' I thought looking at him. He pushed his tiny glasses up his nose. It looked like an old habit, something never quite forgotten. "you have gray eyes" I tilted my head sideways. Unsure how to respond. "what is your name?" he asked, finally a question I could answer. "Ruby Rose" I said. "do you know who I am?" he asked another question, one I've been waiting to answer. "you're Headmaster Ozpin. The director of Beacon academy for hunters. My sister is going to be attending there starting next semester" I said, proud of her. "and what is your hope for the future?" he asked. 'getting kind of personal, but I'll see this through' I thought and said "I want to be a huntress" he hid his mouth behind his coffee mug, hiding a smile (or frown). "that's a dangerous occupation. You could easily lose your life fighting the creatures of Grimm"

I was taken aback, this was the headmaster of the greatest (in my opinion) hunter school. But is he trying to talk me out of becoming a huntress. "I understand that, but I have always dreamed of being a huntress, just like in the stories my sister Yang used to read to me when I was younger" I said, remembering those memories' fondly. "then how would you like to get an early start?" he asked. I sputtered. "wa-wa-wa whaaat" I eloquently asked. "I would like you to attend my school. You are obviously qualified, based on you battle with a top class criminal, even if he got away. I believe you have the talent to be in my school, even if you're a bit young" he took a sip of coffee "so what do you say?"


	2. Chapter 2 Weiss' dream

Another lesion in the art of RWBY tattoos

Grimm blood, and its most common uses in tattoos

A recent technologic advancement has allowed the safely released formula for the application of Grimm blood into Tattoos. Even though generations of family's have already been using Grimm blood for hundreds of years. It was technically illegal until recently. To many people died from unlicensed tattoo artist codenamed [underground artist]. But the kingdom of Vale has allowed a certain number of formulas to be put on the open market. This has resulted in the high demand for specific Grimm, and the difficult process of harvesting their blood. Because as you know. Grimm turn to Ether soon after death. But the demand for more powerful tattoos is always rising

List of Grimm and its Rarity/most common use in tattoos

Boarbatusk-vary common- used for effect tattoos. No uses in power tattoos.

Ursa-common- used for adding strength to a person

Beowolf-common- used for one tattoo [berserk] banned from selling. To many deaths from its use

Deathstalker-rare- used to add a glowing property to tattoos. Often in [Glyphs]

King Taijitu-rare- used for skin thickening

Goliath- ultra rare- illegal- used for a life extending tattoo. Requires the user to steal the life force of someone else to live longer

Nevermore-ultra rare- used for giving flight in the form of a full back tattoo that looks like a pair of angel wings. But is still the one we know the least about. can do many other mysterious things

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(chapter 2 Weiss Schnee) (Weiss pov)

I've been standing here for too long now. If I don't finish getting ready soon, my father will not be happy. 'wait? Why do I care. I'm done with him starting today' I thought, not allowing the feeling of joy to show on my face. I focused back on my reflection, the same unfamiliar face still looking back. I allowed my eyes to wander across my body. The pale skin running unblemished from my neck to my belly button. I still haven't found an appropriate tattoo to put on my chest, leaving it shockingly bare compared to all of my other limbs.

My left arm was almost as bare, but the five bracelet like tattoos, evenly spaced starting at my elbow then proceeding to my wrist showed off what kind of tattoo fighter I was. I used Glyphs. Sometimes called magic circles. But I used a wide variety of Glyphs, a few allowed me to create platforms out of ice dust. Then using the other four tattoos, I can augment those platforms to do a variety of things. Such as acceleration, gravity manipulation, give myself or others a hast buff, as well as summon ice crystals.

My right arm was another story, I decided a long time ago. This arm was mine. A silly concept from the outside, but the way my father talks, my body doesn't belong to me. 'it will after today'. My right forearm is covered in a tattoo I did myself. Time dilation. A concept thought impossible by many for years. But the books in the Schnee mansion were millennia old. I found this tattoo when I was hiding from my father, it immediately caught my interest. 'yeah, idiot. You thought it would allow you to skip the years when you were younger' I bitterly thought. All it allows is the slowing of time for a single person, doing the opposite of my old dream.

Both of my legs are currently empty, because I am always wearing a skirt or short dress, my father said "it would look bed for a Schnee to have an excesses of tattoos" however I will be getting one soon. I refuse to allow my father to control me anymore. I have been accepted into Beacon academy. I will begin my life as a huntress from this day onward.

I turned to walk out of the bathroom, feeling the chill of being naked in the bathroom for so long. But as I turned my eyes caught the thing that has haunted me every night for as many years as I've had it. My first tattoo. A full back tattoo, preventing me from getting any of the much more useful tattoos on the market today. From the bottom of my hairline, to just above my butt cheeks. A ghostly blue colored, ancient tattoo. The tattoo that every Schnee has had since the time magic tattoos first were created.

It was the Necromancy tattoo. A lost tattoo art, only know by the Schnee's. it has five basic components. The part that took up my whole back was called "the prime" it was a series of runic circles, all surrounding an empty dust Crystal, the crystal was used as a storage device, when a monster is killed by me, and I thought it a worthy opponent, the crystal stores its essence. The other four components are matching, one going along the back of each arm, down the back of them to the elbow. And the other two run down the back of both legs, to the back of the knee. These all look like three blueish lines in perfect alignment, but are in fact thousands of runic letters, from a long lost language.

It is the reason I only wear jackets with long sleeves, and skirts that go past my knees. I hate that tattoo I never asked for it, I never wanted it. But I never had a choice. I have grown used to it over the past seven years. 'it was my tenth birthday present. My father's last present' I thought. The week after I got it was the last time he looked at me, the last time he saw me as a daughter. Apparently it didn't work for me. I was, and still am, unable to summon anything.

I got dressed, finally ready to leave 'and never come back'. I packed as much clothing as I could. Fitting all of the items I actually wanted into one briefcase. But packed five additional ones just to placate the high slandered's of my father. I carried my final case myself. It had all of my tattoo equipment, dust vials, raw ink, Grimm blood, needles, and a tattoo gun. I dreamed of being a tattoo artist. I studied hundreds of books about the art, from the half disintegrated books of tattoo legends, to the modern books of wholesale tattoos today. I had to hide this all from my father. The Schnee dust company was the main supplier for dust, from the everyday dust used for lighting the streets, to bullets used for hunting Grimm, and most importantly for [power tattoos]. But to my father, being a tattoo artist was comparable to being a fast-food worker.

The only thing he hated more were Faunus. His views on them were horrendous "nothing but filthy animals pretending to be human" he often said whenever the camera was turned off. Yet without them the Schnee dust company would be a long forgotten memory. They were the ones that mined for dust, even though they are paid less than nothing for doing so. I did not share his opinion on that, although he thinks I do. 'just one more thing you no longer have to fake' I thought happily.

*knock* *knock*

A knock sounded at my door, taking me back to the reality of my current location. "ms. Schnee, your limo is waiting" a man said. One of the many butlers my father had, so many I stopped trying to remember their names. "you may enter and grab my bags. I shall wait for you down there" I said, using the formal way of talking down on everyone 'just like daddy taught me' I thought bitter-sweetly. I grabbed my personal bag containing my tattoo equipment and walked out the door. Feeling freer with every step towards the limo. I looked down the hall, the door to my father's study was closed. 'looks like he is refusing to face his disappointment of a daughter' I thought, letting a quick smile grace my face. It was a strange feeling, I hardly smiled. But I felt I could do so from this day onward.

* * *

(Ruby's first day at Beacon) [Ruby pov]

"ohhh I'm so proud of you!" my sister screamed at me, just before grabbing me in a bone breaking hug. "my baby sister is going to school along with me. You're so awesome!" she continued on, forgetting the fact I needed to breath. "gahh, yang. Cant breath" I gasped out. She dropped me and held my shoulders, looking into my eyes. A super happy face smiled at me, making me awkwardly smile back. "can you blame me!? My awesome baby sister got moved ahead !two years! How could I not be excited!?" she said. "ughh, don't remind me. It's so not worth being excited about. I'm going to stand out. I don't want to be someone who is the center of attention" I said, sounding much whinier than I intended. "don't be like that Ruby" Yang said, going into big sister comfort mode "you're going to be great. Don't even worry about standing out. You're going to be the best huntress here" then I saw the makings of a bad pun appear in her eyes "you're going to be the Bee's knees" she (unfortunately) said.

'how was that comforting. If anything I'm more panicked' I thought. "I don't want to be the 'Bee's knees' I don't want to be any knees. Why can't I just have normal knees" I pleaded, taking Yang's joke too far. Yang seemed to understand my panic. "it's okay Ruby. I get it. You want to be a regular student here, and you will be. But I'm am going to put you on a pedestal. Because in my mind, that is right were you belong" she said. 'that was actually comforting' I thought. "thanks Yang" I said, doing my best to give her a hug as powerful as she could, but I knew it was pathetic compared to hers.

"oh god, I'm gunna hurl" I boy said, ruining our loving sister moment. He walked right by us, but the airship we were riding swayed just as he passed us, causing him to miss the trashcan he was aiming his upchucked meal. It splashed on the floor right next to the trashcan, a small puddle forming. "aww, my shoes" Yang said. Much to my amusement, "nice job Vomit boy" I said in a nice-joking tone. I didn't want to actually make fun of him. "uuuuuhh" he responded dizzily, still in a daze from being airsick. But moments later the doors opened and we were all walking off the ship.

The school was breathtaking. Huge towers topped with old style roofing. Large walkways surrounding the campus. All with a forest back-round that looked right out of a painting. I was in awe. "well? What do you think sis?" Yang asked. "I love it" I said, a little breathless from trying to absorb everything all at once. Then I started to notice the students. "Yang, Yang. Look, Look" I said pointing at various students. "he has a winged-back tattoo! Ooo, Ooo, she has a shielded skin tattoo!" I said. I have an obsession with tattoos. Until recently I was scared of getting one, but that didn't stop me from reading about them every chance I got, and now that I am in tattoo heaven (according to me) I was in the mood to get tattoo after tattoo.

* * *

(privet Schnee airship) [Weiss pov]

I sat in silence the entire trip to Beacon. The men driving the ship were on my father's paygrade. I couldn't risk them ruining my plans, so I refrained from giving them any hints of my true intentions of going to school here. I held onto my briefcase containing my tattoo gun. Fearing if I put it down I might forget it. Once the ship touched down at Beacon, I was off. Not wanting to be near my father's property any longer than I had to. I grabbed my other bag, the one containing the clothing I actually liked, and started walking. I knew the men my father hired would handle the other bags for me.

The school was nice. Not as grand as my father's main house. But still a well-designed facility. I noticed the 'common' airships land, I decided to stay clear of them. Not because I was afraid of being noticed. I just wanted to enjoy being a normal student for as long as possible. But I knew in my heart, as soon as someone spotted who I was, I would have to be the daughter my father thought I was. It was the only way my plan would succeed, I had to be for at least the next few months. After that, I could rely on Beacon keeping me away from my father's grasp. Then i could finally be Weiss.

I waited for the majority of students to get off of their own airship, then started to walk. I was about thirty feet behind the large group of newly arrived students. I allowed my mind to wander, as I fallowed the people in front of me. 'I hope they have a tattoo artistry class like in Haven academy. I read beacon did have a wide selection of tattoo shops on campus. Using the freshest Grimm blood, harvested right out of the forest it guards' I thought. I was really obsessed with being a tattoo artist.

Suddenly I ran into something. The object then proceeded to take me straight to the ground. ""guahh"" me and this person yelled as we tumbled to the floor. It took several moments for my head to awaken from the shock of falling 'I thought I was far enough back to avoid everyone' I thought. Then my mind registered the absence of my briefcase in my hand. 'MY TATTOO EQUIPMENT!' I thought in a panic. But this person was trapping me under them. In an uncharacteristically violent motion, I pushed off the person, a girl, and ran to my tattoo bag. It had spilled open, and my dust vials were scattered around. I lost control of my temper "how stupid can you be?!" I yelled at the girl, who was still recovering on the ground.

At my words she shook her head. Much like a wet dog. 'cute' my brain told me, but my anger overpowered that mysterious thought. "you imbecilic, clumsy girl. Do you know the damage you could have caused?" I picked up a vile of dust from the ground "this is dust, raw power. You could have blown us both sky high!" I ranted. I often use hand gestures when I get really mad, so it was no surprise that when I finished my rant, the broken bottle of dust I was holding had spread a small cloud in front of me and this girl.

When suddenly the girl looked ready to sneeze 'oh no' my mind snapped out of its anger immediately.

*Ahh-choo*

*boom!*

* * *

(back with Ruby) [Ruby pov]

"okay sis, you go make nice with your fellow students. I'm going to go hang out with some old friends" and just like that Yang was gone. 'great. The only person I knew, left me alone in an unknown place' I thought. I turned around to start walking, I was just going to head to the orientation hall. When all of the sudden my face was filled with the color white. 'oh no!" I thought in a panic. ""guahh"" me and another voice yelled at the same time. We crashed to the floor at the same time, tangling in a pile of limbs and white briefcases. As we rolled to a stop, I looked at who it was I fell into.

pure blue eyes filled my vision. And everything else melted away. Suddenly I was pushed upward and to the side. I landed hard on my butt. But I didn't register the pain. My mind was still clouded by the deep blue of this girl's eyes. I sat there, looking up at her, when I saw her mouth start to move 'oh man, I better focus, she looks mad' I thought. I shook my head trying to banish the thought of her eyes. "how stupid could you be?!" she yelled sounding way too angry. I stood up, feeling two feet tall as she yelled at me. "you imbecilic, clumsy girl. Do you know the damage you could have caused?" she yelled again, then reached down grabbing a vile "this is dust, raw power. You could have blown us both sky high!" she continued her rant, waving her arms as she emphasized her anger at me. It still felt way too unjustified. But I kept my head lowered in submission, whenever Yang gets like this it's always better to allow them to get all the yelling out of their system.

As I was standing there, I felt a small tickle in my nose. That feeling you get when a sneeze is coming, and there's nothing you can do to stop it. 'this is going to be super embarrassing' I thought, just before I lost control of my nose.

*Ahh-choo*

*Boom!*

Me and this mysterious girl were blown away from each other. 'why did my sneeze just explode?' I asked myself. I looked back at the girl, she was covered in soot. I felt so, so bad. 'great, it is just like me to ruin the chance of being friends with the first person I meet' I thought, kicking myself internally. After the girl shook as much soot as she could from her white outfit she started her rant with newfound vigor. "this is exactly what I was warning you about" she yelled. 'wait? Warning. It sounded more like belittling' I thought, confused by her wording. "I mean really. This stuff is dangerous. This school is for training hunters. Are you even old enough to be here? You could have killed yourself, you D-dolt!" she seemed out of steam. But before she could catch a second wind I lost my temper "listen here Princess! I don't need to stand here and be lectured. I'm sorry for falling and knocking you down, but that is no reason to continually talk to me like I'm a child!" I said in a slightly loud voice.

She looked at me, taken aback by my tone. 'she must not get yelled at often' I thought 'great, now I feel bad for yelling'. But before I could apologize someone cut into our "conversation" a woman wearing mostly black, she had amber eyes, and walked like she owned the place "it's heiress, actually" she said. "huhh" I eloquently said in response she smiled at me, seeing my obvious confusion with her seemingly random statement. "not a princess, Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company" the woman in black said.

I may have been going crazy, but for the smallest of seconds, the girl (now known as Weiss) looked defeated with the telling of her name. then like everything that just happened was a lifetime ago, Weiss stood straight and pointed her chin to the side, looking past me. "Finally some recognition, at least someone understands my importance". 'did she just become like, a totally different person. Yes, before she just sounded upset and angry that her stuff could have been damaged. But now, she sounded…entitled?' I thought to myself, confused at the change I just witnessed in Weiss.

The woman in black didn't look done with her introduction of Weiss though. "the same company that has been abusing Faunus for decades, treating them as nothing more than lesser class humans, worse than slaves" she seemed satisfied with her words at this point. I just felt bad for some reason, yes those were all terrible. But that doesn't mean you have to blame Weiss. She's not even old enough to be responsible for any of those things.

Weiss seemed angry, but I saw something else. I saw a piece of her die at this woman's comment. Like her hope had abandoned her. But again, as fast as I noticed it, she hid it away saying "how dare you! I do not have to be talked down to by the likes of you!" she said before quickly grabbing the two bags she dropped when I ran into her, and stormed off. Heading straight to the orientation hall. _(A/N Ruby already knows where the building she is supposed to go is, F*** the meeting up with Jaune)_

I turned around to yell at the girl in black who "saved me" from my fight with Weiss. I believe she just hurt Weiss' feelings, no matter how tough she sounded when she stormed off. But as I turned, the woman was gone. 'she must have those [stealth tattoos]' I thought. I helpful set of tattoos for a hunter, giving you the power to walk straight up to a Grimm, slap its face, then easily walk away. Of course people often didn't get them, because they demanded lots of concentration, and you couldn't use any other tattoos while you were stealthed 'that's a word right?' I asked myself

I decided to just head to orientation. 'I give up on making friends' I thought sadly.

* * *

(Two-faced Weiss) [Weiss pov] {just after Ruby's Snezsploasion}

*Boom!*

This young girl was blown away, I however raised my aura just in time, only soot and some ash from my burnt skirt covered me. No real damage done, but there could have been. She's lucky that was only a small amount of fire dust. That was the most dangerous type of dust after all. So many people have died trying to get tattoos that had even a small amount of fire dust in them. Even in its raw form it was deadly 'and it's my fault she could have been hurt. I was the one waiving it around' I thought, fully intending to take the blame if she had even the smallest of scratches. To my great relief she was completely unharmed. 'good. She's fine. Hopefully she can learn from these experiences' I thought. And said "this is exactly what I was warning you about. I mean really. This stuff is dangerous. This school is for training hunters. Are you even old enough to be here? You could have killed yourself, you D-dolt!" 'did I just call her a Dolt? What's a dolt, were did that come from? I hope I didn't sound angry. I really hope she understood I was trying to get her to understand the danger of this. I'm not good at being comforting with my words. All I've ever done was fight with my father' I thought. I sucked in breath to apologize for how that must have sounded. When she spoke up. "listen here Princess! I don't need to stand here and be lectured. I'm sorry for falling and knocking you down, but that is no reason to continually talk to me like I'm a child!" she said

'great. I did sound like I was yelling at her. I need to apologize fast, before this gets out of hand' I thought in a panic. Then a voice of to my right made itself heard. "It's heiress actually". 'NOOO!' I cried internally 'I don't want to be a heiress, I never wanted it!' I continued to cry. But it was pointless. I was Weiss Schnee. The daughter to a man of great power. I was now known. Time to act the part 'just like you have for the past 7 years' I told myself. The woman continued after the girl I was already talking with didn't understand the Heiress comment. 'she didn't even know who I was. She would have been my saving grace. A person who didn't know who I was. Someone who wouldn't judge me for my family. All ruined because the woman in black showed her face' I thought, sad at my missed opportunity of meeting and maybe making my first ever friend. The woman in black continued along 'so helpfully filling in the younger girl's knowledge of exactly who I was "not a princess, Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company" I knew the response for this situation, my father made me practice it for days upon days.

I fixed my body stance, adopting my formal rigid form. Back straight, chin up. never completely face those who are below you, always show dominance. I said "Finally some recognition, at least someone understands my importance" my voice was back to its cold indifference. I was no longer Weiss, I was now Ms. Schnee but the woman in black confused me, she continued to introduce me. "the same company that has been abusing Faunus for decades, treating them as nothing more than lesser class humans, worse than slaves". 'perfect. Just perfect. Now not only would this young person hate me for my name. now I would never be able to make a friend here' I was hit by a wave of defeat. I might as well return to my father now. Nothing in my life would ever change, I would always be bound by my last name. 'might as well save what dignity I have left' I thought. I said in an angry voice, trying to mask my pain "how dare you! I do not have to be talked down to by the likes of you!". Then I grabbed my two bags before walking away in a brisk walk 'after all, royalty didn't run away from a conversation. Ever!' my father's voice rung in my head. I had to fight the erg to cry all the way to orientation.


	3. Chapter 3 Emerald forest part 1

(chapter 3 destined meetings) [Yang pov]

After I caught up with my old group of friends, talking about our latest tattoos, discussing boys, and just talking about how great it was to be in such an awesome school. But we had to part ways, there was a rumor that no one could pick our teammates. So we decided to let the teachers decide if we are meant to be together throughout school here. It was a real bummer, but at least I had my sister. If everyone else leaves, I know we will always stick together.

I waited in the orientation hall. The headmaster's speech was soon, so I chose a spot in the middle of the group of new students. I made sure to stay visible from the entrance, that way I could see when Ruby arrives. I wanted us to go through this together. 'after all, if what my friends said is true. We could end up separated for the next four years' I said to myself. I ended up making myself sad with that thought.

A tiny girl wearing a bright red cape caught my eye, Ruby was just about to enter the open doors to the hall. As soon as she entered I knew something was wrong. The way she was walking was very telling. Something was weighing heavy on her mind. Something that was really upsetting her. I knew she needed me, maybe to vent, maybe to help her with fixing the problem, whatever it was. I decided to do both. I called her over to me "Ruby!" I waved my arm, easily reaching overtop the gathering of students.

She hastily walked straight to me. Almost breaking out in a run. 'whatever it was that upset her seems really bad' I thought as she came up to me. "hey sis, how was your morning?" I asked in my usual happy tone, even though I knew it was bad based on how she walked in here. "awful! Especially after you ditched me for your friends!" she said, her words laced with annoyance "then I knocked this girl over. Then she started yelling at me! And to top it all off I exploded!" she ranted. I felt bad for leaving her. But I knew she would feel even more awkward if I dragged her along with me to meet my friends. Although hearing that someone yelled at my baby sister is making me upset, I'll let it go. "wow, dramatic much?" I asked jokingly. Her explosion comment must have been a way to make me feel bad for leaving her.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a girl wearing all white yelled "You!" at the sound of the voice Ruby paled and leaped into my arms. Doing her best to imitate a dog who got caught digging through the trash. 'did she just yell at my baby sis?' I thought anger beginning its slow simmer. "you're lucky we didn't get blown off the cliff" the new girl continued her yelling. But before I could scream back at her, Ruby talked instead "I'm so, so, so sorry. I didn't mean to cause any damage to your stuff. Please forgive me" Ruby said. She sounded nervous, like the thought of this white haired girl hating her would cause her pain.

The girl in white huffed and crossed her arms. "fine, but read this" then out of nowhere she held a pamphlet in Ruby's face. "what is it?" ruby asked, but eagerly grabbed the paper. "the Schnee dust company's basics do's and don'ts. read it and I will forgive you for what happened earlier" she said, turning to walk away. But Ruby had another question for the girl "wait Weiss, does this mean we can also be friends?" she asked

Weiss stared at her. Then her posture shifted into an upright position "I dought it" then she walked away, into the sea of students. I saw the sadness fall upon Ruby at her words. "hey, cheer up sis. We don't need her. Pretty soon we'll be swimming in friends, just you wait" I said, doing my best to sound encouraging. In reality I was pissed. That girl just yelled at my sister in front of me. And to top it all off. Refused Ruby's sincere attempt at wanting to be friends.

But before I could go out and find this Weiss girl, a tapping on the microphone rung through the hall. "I'll keep this brief. All of you have gathered here today hoping to be great worriers. But as I look amongst you all I see is…wasted potential, in need of purpose, in need of knowledge. You assume having a tattoo grants you power" he paused, a small mummer of agreement sounded by a number of students. "you assume wrong! Power will only take you so far, it is up to you to take your own first step" and he walked off the stage. Glenda then spoke "you will be sleeping in the hall for tonight, your evaluations will be held tomorrow morning. Got your rest students" and fallowed the headmaster off the stage

* * *

Weiss after leaving Ruby and Blake) [Weiss pov]

The walk to the orientation hall felt miles longer than it actually was. It truth it was a hundred or so feet, but to me it felt like I was walking back into my father's cold hands. But I was here at this school by my father's orders, at least for this year. In truth he most likely expected me to drop out soon, and I highly expected him to call me after a few months, ordering me to return home. But until then, and hopefully after then, I will be here at Beacon. With or without friends. Even if my teammates don't want to get along with me, I will remain here until I can escape my father.

I made my way into the hall, a mass of students were already gathered in here. I wanted to get a better view of the stage, I had no idea what the headmaster's speech would entail, so I was going to prepare for everything, maybe he would be showing something. I might as well be in a position ahead of time, instead of fighting my way through students later. Once I reached the center I was halted in my tracks. There stood that girl. The one in red who knocked me over. 'I hope she isn't still mad at me' I thought. I overheard her conversation with a tall blond haired woman.

"awful! Especially after you ditched me for your friends!" she said, her words sounded mad, but I could tell she wasn't trying to blame the woman she was talking to. She continued her talking "then I knocked this girl over. Then she started yelling at me! And to top it all off I exploded!" she said, throwing her arms up, mimicking an explosion effect. 'she's talking about me' I thought happily. I'm not sure why that thought made me so happy, but it did. 'wait, she thinks I was just yelling at her? I was trying to tell her the potential danger. Oum! I'm so bad at interacting with people!' thought about what I could do to make things right between us. 'maybe if I give her the pamphlet, then she will understand the danger we could have been in' I thought.

"you!" I said, loud enough to get her attention, I walked over to her so I could talk without being loud "you're lucky we didn't get blown off the cliff" I said. She immediately twirled around to face me, I worried but friendly look on her face. Before I could finish saying what I planned on saying, she spoke. "I'm so, so, so sorry. I didn't mean to cause any damage to your stuff. Please forgive me" she pleaded. My mind went into overtime, my body felt light, and I had no idea why. 'I can't let her think I won't forgive her' I thought, I recovered from my feelings and went back to my original plan for talking to her. "fine, but read this" I said, pulling out the paper that had all the dangers of dust on it. "what is it?" she asked, a confused look showing itself on her face. "the Schnee dust company's basics do's and don'ts. read it and I will forgive you for what happened earlier"

With that done I decided to leave, I didn't want to impose on the conversation she was having before I arrived. But as I took my second step away she called out to me "wait Weiss, does this mean we can also be friends?". 'did she just? No it can't be. She would never be able to understand my life. I need to keep her out of my life. Something about her is…is…no I must keep her away' I thought in a panic. But my father's voice took over my head 'you are a Schnee! We do not associate with those below us!'. Before I could stop myself by body shifted into its upright and proper form, and my mouth started saying my father's words instead of my own "I dought it" and I walked away, shame and regret filling me to the top. Shortly after that the headmaster stepped on stage. I couldn't even manage to listen.

* * *

(that night after sunset) [Ruby pov]

I was writing in note book while lying in a sleeping bag provided my Beacon. I was writing a letter to the few friends I had back in Signal academy. They were excited I somehow managed to get bumped ahead two years. So they asked me to write to them telling them how things function here and what to expect. The teachers were also surprised that I managed to move ahead, so they said my letters would be turned into lessons for some of their classes. I was sad I didn't know anyone here with me. Yang is lucky in that regard.

just as I finished my last word, Yang plopped down on the sleeping bag next to me "this is like a biiiig sleepover" she always knows how to make a bad situation a little better. "I'm not sure dad would approve of all the boys though" I said, trying to play along with the joke, but my voice sounded defeated. "what's got you all down in the dumps?" she asked. "it's just…I don't know if I'll ever make any friends" I said, letting the frustration of today known through my voice. "is this about that Weiss girl? Because if she hurt you in any way…." She trailed off, making her threat known. "no, no!" I said, angry at the thought of her being hurt "it's just…I didn't get to take my friends with me like you did, and I think me being younger will hinder any attempts at making new friends here"

Yang looked at me in deep thought. "don't let it bother you, there are plenty of friends here, you just haven't meet them yet" she said, her big sister attitude trying to make me feel better. It did make me feel better. "thanks sis" I hugged her, as we broke apart I noticed out of the corner of my eye, a figure emerge from a shadow. I stared at her for long enough that Yang noticed. "who's that?" she asked, shocking me out of staring. "I don't know. she belittled Weiss after I got yelled at, but she disappeared before I could say anything to her" I said.

"she stood up for you? I like her already" Yang said. 'yeah, if standing up for me means making someone else feel like a terrible person' I thought. But I couldn't say that, in Yang's eyes Weiss was harming me. Yang always gets tunnel vision when it comes to people she cares for being harmed. But I had a feeling Weiss wasn't trying to be mean to me. I felt she was, first off scared of whatever was in her bag being damaged, and secondly of me injuring myself. Of course this is just me guessing, it reality she could have just been mad at me. But no matter how hard I tried, what this mysterious person did, saving me from Weiss, she did so in a mean way.

"I say we go thank her, you said yourself you didn't get the chance to thank her right?" Yang said. 'no, I didn't. and I don't want to thank someone for being mean' I thought. But before I could say anything I was dragged up off the ground by Yang. "come on, this is your chance to make your first friend" Yang said with a sisterly pride. 'ughhh…this is not going to go well' I thought in dread

"helloooo!" Yang sang as she walked over to the girl in black, dragging me along with. "my name is Yang, this is my sister Ruby. She was telling me about how awesome it was when you saved her earlier today" 'I defently didn't put it that way' "what's your name?" Yang asked the woman. She was reading a book, and didn't even bother looking up at us. But that fact didn't deture Yang in the slightest "I like your bow, it matches your, errr, pajamas!" Yang said, her confidence wavering at the lack of input from the person she was trying to engage. At the bow comment the woman looked up "thanks, my name is Blake" was all she said. "that's a nice name Blake. Sooo, what you up too?" Yang asked she looked up from her book again "I was reading. This vary book" then paused, 'she probably wants to get back to reading, I should drag Yang away' I thought. "which I will get back to doing….as soon as you leave" Blake said, a little rudely, but it didn't feel like it was meant to hurt Yang. Just get her to go away.

Out of the corner of her mouth Yang said to me "yahhh, this girl is a lost cause" 'I know already. You're the one that forced me to come over here' I thought, but I still didn't say a word. I still wasn't sure if I could get along with this girl, maybe if we spent more time together. But based on your first meeting, and this, I wasn't sure. 'maybe I should try harder myself. She could just be bad at being social, just like me. I should try to talk to her about something she likes' I thought. "what's it about?" I asked. "what?" she said. Fair question, "your book, what's it about?" I clarified. She looked at me, this time she really tried to look at me with interest. "it's about a man who received a tattoo on his brain" she said. Yang butted in "that's… awesome" she said, her voice saying she was grossed out. I didn't really want to get into talking about that either. "I love books. Yang used to read to me every night. Story's about hero's who fight for Justice, and defeating the bad guys. It's one of the main reasons I wanted to become a huntress" I said.

"that's a nice dream" Blake told me "but sadly that's not how the real world works" I knew that, I knew that better than most. "but that's why we're here. To be that exception, to light up the darkness, to give people that sense of hope" I said, giving her a small taste of my life ambition. Before Blake could give me a response, Yang decided to tease me "awwww, that's my baby sister" she said, grabbing me in a bear hug. 'here I am trying to make a friend, like you asked. And you go and do this to embarrass me' I thought. Then as my annoyance I started play fighting her, which she eagerly fallowed me into. So we erupted into a ball of kicking and punching. Eventually tirering ourselves out and passing out asleep.

* * *

(the next morning) [Weiss pov]

I awoke long before the sun was ready to rise. I had planning to do, I searched through the new student files. Luckily Beacon allowed a small amount of information to be available to all students, about all students. I was searching for potential teammates. I didn't know if we were going to be allowed to choose our own, or if the most compatible of us would be matched together, but I was going to be prepared for everything.

I searched for a number of attributes. Firstly, I looked for grade point average from previous schools. At the top were Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Ruby Rose. 'interesting, this Ruby girl was top of her class, that explains her jump ahead Two years'. (A/N Weiss doesn't know who Ruby is at this moment) I was also interested in combat ability too, this was a hunter training school after all. As far as pure skill was concerned Lie Ren was at the top, followed by Yang Xiao Long, and Pyrrha. Lastly I was interested in tattoo/weapon mastery. To my surprise Ruby was number one, by a wide margin. Next was someone named Cardin Winchester, but that was based on the sheer number of tattoos he possessed, 76 in total. But ruby only possessed two, but the number of weapons she could use masterfully, was listed as "all", I didn't know if that was an error or not though.

So I made my choice in desired teammate. Pyrrha Nikos, the four-time Mistral combat tournament champion. She came from a high enough class of family that my father could complain too much, and she had a rare family heirloom tattoo, too bad the files didn't explain what that tattoo was. 'I guess I'll find out when she is my teammate' I thought. So now I was prepared, I set out for my next task. Clean my gear, my rapier was first. Myrtenaster, a silver alloy replica of the ancient Schnee weapon. It was, and is designed for the best broadcast device for activating complex [Glyphs]. But it requires a constant supply of raw dust to power. It has a chamber that allows me to select a different type of dust for any given situation. Normally I am restricted to ice Glyphs, because that is what dust is mixed with my tattoos. But with my sword I can use fire, lighting, and wind. All without putting my life in danger and using those elements in a tattoo.

By the time I was done, most of the new students were awake and getting ready for our initiation testing. I did my best to avoid everyone. I was still mad at myself for how I treated the girl in red yesterday, I didn't know how to apologize, and I knew if I tried it would only sound like I was yelling at her. So I just headed to the Cliffside and waited for whatever test the headmaster had planned to start. I didn't have to wait long, before I knew it, I was standing amongst a group of students, waiting for Glenda Goodwitch to give instructions.

"I would like to start out by addressing a lot of rumors floating around about teams. None of you have to worry about that, you will all receive teammates today" she paused, letting the shock in the students die down. Ozpin stepped forward then. "today's test will be held in the forever forest, you will be dropped off and make your way west whereupon you will find a relic, you and your teammate will only grab one between you. Then you will have to fight your way back here to the clifftop. I must warn you, the dangers you face are real, the staff will not step in to assist you. So prepare yourself, or you will die" he said. Glenda then spoke again "after you land, the first person you meet will become your teammate for the next four years. So choose wisely" and as an afterthought "don't die either"

One by one we were launched off the cliff by an air dust pad. Most students screamed in terror as they flew. I counted two with angel wing tattoos, they were able to fly all the way to the relic site, I assumed they also teamed up. next thing I knew I was launched into the air, falling into a Grimm infested forest. As I was flying, a yellow blur whizzed by me, going too fast to see. But I had to focus, I needed to land. I decided on the simplest method, using my Glyphs to make a plat form, then create them lower and lower, making a crude yet effective staircase. So I did just that. Now that I was on the forest floor, I needed to find Pyrrha, and also not get killed by a Grimm.

* * *

(Shadow cat) [Blake pov]

I landed in a small clearing, almost at the center of the Emerald forest. Looking up at the sun, I found the direction of west and headed off. I should activate my tattoos and walk there without disturbing any Grimm along the way. But the mental strain it took wasn't worth it right now. 'I hope my teammate doesn't ask about my past' I thought. Remembering the bad things, and the people I hurt. 'enough of that, you are here to make amends. Not fall into a pit of self-loathing' I told myself.

About a hundred yards from my landing site. I heard the distinctive sound of a shotgun. 'must be a student' I said pointing out the obvious. I activated my tattoos. An old habit from meeting new people, watch them then decide if they could be worth my time. My tattoos were specifically created for one purpose. Stealth, my body had been tattooed at a young age for a single purpose. I was meant to be an assassin, a spy, the person in the night who you look over your shoulder and hope not to see. My tattoos were a complete set of [hidden tattoos] two on each foot, on the bottom of them. It was a circle with an x crossing through it. They were meant to cancel the sound of my normal footsteps. Each of my breasts had a tattoo, a small circle with a line through it, those were used to make my breathing silent. Then there was a tattoo going around my neck. It felt like I was wearing a collar and I hated that feeling, but it also was painful by far the most painful tattoo of the set. Even today it gave me a dull ache from its activation. The one on my neck was the most important, it allowed me to appear as a shadow, but there had to be a shadow already present for me to blend in with.

When I use them I have to focus on each tattoo by its self, as well as what is going on around me. This is extremely hard on my brain. I was told if I used it too much, without the proper brainpower, the tattoos would start taking compensation from me, the first thing they took was the ability to speak, then day by day you would be driven insane by your own power. I was less than thrilled to learn about that, which is why I read so many books, I was stretching my mind. Giving it as much exercise as my body.

I took my training vary seriously, when someone interrupts it, I get snappy. As I made my way closer to the shotgun sounds, I saw a person who had just been on the receiving end of that vary attitude of mine. 'the older sister, Yang. I guess she is my partner. I don't see her fighting along with anybody else' I said to myself. As I left my shadow, a Grimm she was fighting, in hand to hand combat with, almost managed to take of her head. Luckily she ducked just in time. But she froze soon after, the Grimm looked at her in confusion, not understanding her lack of movement.

A single strand of long golden blond hair fell to the ground 'the Ursa must have missed her by a hair's with' I joked to myself. 'ughhh, why did I just make a joke so bad'. But before I could think anymore a massive wave of heat rolled over the clearing I was standing next too. Yang literally exploded in a ball of flames, her hair was rising and looking like it was on fire, her hands had a fire like glow, but her gauntlets were blocking whatever was glowing underneath. I watched as her eyes shift to red 'I should help, before she is consumed by her own anger' I said. I took out my sword and clipped it onto my pistol, the ribbon attached to my pistol was already wrapped around my wrist. I fired Gambol shroud, it launched itself like a boomerang at the Ursa, impaling the monster in the back, killing it with that single blow.

I stepped into the clearing, and walked up onto the downed Ursa, pulling out my gunblade I looked yang in the eyes. Confirming our status as teammates. "I totally had that" she said in a playful way. And just like that, her hair was back to normal, her arms weren't on fire, and her eyes were back to a beautiful shade of lilac. 'wait? What did I just think?' I asked myself.

* * *

(Ruby's friend?) [Ruby pov]

"BIRDY NOOOOO!" I screamed as I flew into, and killed a tiny baby Nevermore. But I had to land, so I put off my mourning till later. I took out my sweetheart. She was always there for my when I needed her. I shot a few explosive rounds in front of me, slowing my momentum. Then as I approached a thick enough tree, I hooked my scythe blade on it, spiraling down it and landing with a practiced ease. Then I took off running. This was my only use for my tattoo. I was fast. Faster than anything. But the pain I went through wasn't worth it, my past had a dark spot and these fast legs where all I got out of it.

My tattoo was an heirloom tattoo, given to me by my mother. The story of how I got it was still too painful to think about. But the tattoo itself was pretty straight forward, I could accelerate at near supersonic speeds. My legs were so ugly from what my tattoo looks like, solid black from my knees to the bottoms of my feet. With a wind dust crystal implanted into my Achilles tendon. It allowed me to run with great ease, but if I over exerted my legs, my Aura would shut down. Without Aura a huntress was useless, an easy kill for the weakest of Grimm 'stop thinking about the past!' I yelled at myself.

My mind was racing almost as fast as I was running 'who should I try to find? Yang? She is my sister, and she would be my best bet at making it through Beacon without having to meet many new people. But her grades suck. Oh, maybe Blake. She was mysterious, and she liked books. But I'm still not sure if I can get over her rudeness towards-' I was halted in my train of thought when a figure suddenly appeared in front of me. The down side to my great speed, is poor turning time. I had no choice but to slam into this person and hope they lived.

"owww" a girl voice said. "what is the matter with you? Can't you watch where you're going?" the voice asked, it sounded annoyed, yet vary familiar. I looked up at the girl. It was Weiss, standing already she looked over at me during the same moment. "hey, Weiss. I uhh. It's nice to see you" I said, failing to find the correct words. "I should at least know your name if we are to spend the next four years together?" she asked. 'fair point, I wasn't even aware she didn't know' "my name is Ruby Rose" Wiess' eyes widened at my words. "you-you're…but that's imposable" she said. "who else would I be?" I asked, confused as to why it was impossible for me to be me. "I just…." She started to say, but never continued. "I just want to say sorry. I know you said we might not be friends, but sense we are kind of stuck together now…. I would still like to be your friend" I said, my honestly was very evident in my words. Weiss looked away, hiding her face. But I heard a faint whisper in the wind "I don't see why not"

'yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes. I did it. I made a friend. Ha, in your face Yang. Saying I couldn't do it. Ha, ha-ha-ha' I celebrated in my head. Victory tasted oh so sweet. I was taken out of my mini party by the sound of a twig snapping. Me and Weiss looked to my left at the same moment. A set of glowing red eyes was looking at us from inside a shadow. 'Grimm'


	4. Chapter 4 Emerald forest part 2

(flashback: Ruby rose, age 5)

"Mommy? Where are we going?" a small child asked, the child was wrapped in an oversized red cloak, to fight off the winter chill. The older woman, was carrying the child while running through a dark forest. "Ruby, honey, we need to be quiet" the woman told the worried child in her arms. The child responded with a nod, feeling the seriousness of the situation but was unaware of what was happening outside of the cloak she was wrapped in.

Outside of the red cloak was a much different story than the peace inside of it. The woman was running through a heavily infested forest. Grimm were fallowing her with a vicious hunger. She feared for her daughter's safety all-the-while knowing that that fear would draw in more Grimm, her huntress training warned her to keep a level head when facing Grimm. But while holding her daughter, nothing else mattered but this young girl's survival.

The woman knew the more she ran, the more she used her tattoos, the more Grimm would be drawn to her. Power always seeks out power, and her power is at the top. But she just had to keep running, her daughter's life was at stake, she had to get at least her to safety. Her own life came second to that goal.

Summer Rose could feel the wind crystals straining with the effort necessary to stay activated for this long, she had been running for miles, it was a miracle they hadn't given out on her yet. Not that it would be disastrous if they did, the crystals recharged themselves once the tattoo stopped drawing power from them. The longer you were able to push the crystals, the stronger they grew in return. Wind was considered a limitless power source, more destructive then fire, and slower to get moving then water. But once wind got moving, nothing could stand in its way. It turns mountain ranges into massive deserts. All fire could do was burn living things, and water could only smooth a rough surface. But wind could destroy something completely.

As Summer was running through the forest, she spotted a small cave that she and her daughter could find a small amount of shelter in. she desperately needed to rest her legs. She had been running for too long, and the damage being done to her body was steadily growing the more she ran. As she entered the cave, her tattoos lost their power. She fell to the floor with a hard thud, but rolled to her back to hold Ruby to her in a protective embrace.

"mommy, where are we?" Ruby asked. "we are in a safe place honey. We will be staying here for the night. So rest up. Okay honey?" Summer informed her child. "okay mommy" Ruby said, rubbing her eyes sleepily. Summer stood, letting Ruby sleep on the ground, Summer used a few tattoos to cast a shielding spell on the mouth of the cave. They were to make the cave both hidden and impenetrable against Grimm. She hoped they would last the night. They were only a small part of her tattoos. She had acquired a large number of tattoos over the years. Too bad not vary many of them would be useful for this situation. She went over to her daughter and slept next to her, holding her close in a loving embrace.

*ssshccceeecchhh*

A loud scrapping noise shocked Summer out of her rest. Ruby stirred next to her, awoken by the sound also. "mommy what is that?" she asked, fear creeping into her words. "it's okay honey. It can't get in here. You're safe here with mommy" Summer reassured her. Ruby nodded and cuddled in closer to her mother. Summer checked the strength of her leg Tattoos, they still hadn't recovered enough energy to reactivate, the few hours of rest hadn't done what she hoped. Her current situation was worrying her, she knew her warding spell would last a long time, but chances are a bigger meaner Grimm would come by and break it. Plus, how would she get out of here, she could fight her way out normally. But she wasn't able to fight while holding Ruby. So Summer Rose, one of the greatest huntress' that had ever lived, was facing death. That realization rocked her to her core. She was going to die. But she had to first save Ruby.

There was only one way to give Ruby the power to escape. She needed to receive her first tattoo. So Summer got to work. she took out her tattoo gear. She always carried it around with her, she loved giving tattoos as much as she loved having them, but this tattoo she was going to give her daughter. This one was going to hurt. It would hurt Ruby, and it would hurt Summer. Both physically and most likely give Ruby long term psychological damage. But Summer, even knowing this had no choice. It was for her to live through this. Summer had already accepted her own death.

*ssshccceeecchhh*

The monster at the front of the cave tried to get in again. Summer needed to get to work. "Ruby, honey. I need you to come here. I'm going to give you mommy's tattoo" Summer said, as she took out her stash of Grimm blood and inks. "O-Okay. B-But why n-now?" the young girl asked. "we both need to be able to run fast. So I'm going to give you my tattoo, then you'll be as fast as the wind" Summer said, she as talking in a motherly tone, trying to explain the situation without giving any hints as to the near future. "W-will it hurt?" Ruby asked. Summer knew it would, she still had a perfect memory of when her mother gave it to her. "I'll be right here with you, and the pain will only last a few minutes" Summer lied

Summer got to work, the tattoo gun buzzing and soaked in ink. She started with the heart of the tattoo, the [Achilles hole]. It was a place where a wind crystals pierced all the way through the tendon. Normally this would result in the severing of the tendon, and losing the ability to walk, but with the tattoo it permanently fused the crystal to the tendon. But the tattoo had to be completed for that step. She mixed nevermore blood with her ink, nevermore blood was still unknown for the most part. But the women of Summers family had found this property it had that could make a tattoo that could give a person the power to run faster than they ever could before.

It took a lot of ink to give this tattoo. It also took a long time. It had to cover every inch of Ruby's legs. Summer knew that giving a child a tattoo at this age, she had to make it cover from Ruby's hip to the bottoms of her feet. That way when she grew up, the tattoo would be in the proper location, from the knees to the bottom of the feet. When Summer was a child she received the same tattoo, it had to be made just as big because of her age at the time.

"Okay, Ruby. Look here, you see how much this line has to circle around. That is important, you need to keep the thickness constant throughout this line" Summer was explaining every detail of the tattoo as she gave it to Ruby. She was doing so for two reasons, one was to keep Ruby from panicking, hearing Summers voice calmed her down. Second was to pass on the knowledge of the tattoo. Ruby was the future of the Rose family name. It was her duty in the future to pass on this tattoo. "o-o-oka-ay" Ruby said, stuttering with the pain of getting the tattoo.

After four hours, the sound of the Grimm at the cave were much more frequent and much louder. But the ward was still at full strength. But Ruby's new tattoo was almost done. The only step left was inserting the wind crystal. But Summer didn't have any with her. Well she had two of them, but they were the ones that made up her own tattoo. "Okay Ruby, this is the last step, when you give the tattoo to your child you don't have to use your own, but I don't have any extras with me" Summer said, before using her knife to pry out both of her wind crystals. Tears came pouring out of both girls at the act. "Mommy!" Ruby cried. "don't worry, we'll both escape soon, then I can get healed up and we'll be able to make those cookies I promised you" summer said, using all of her will power to give a convincing lie.

Summer thrusted the crystal into her daughters Achilles tendon. She did so as fast as possible. Trying to lessen the time that the pain would last. "okay honey. Now I'm going to push some of my aura into your tattoo, remember the feeling, it will be how you activate it in the future" Summer did just as she said. Ruby's legs glowed with power, the crystal fused with Ruby's tendons. The tattoo healed itself using ruby's own aura, making it a permanent part of her body.

"what now mommy?" Ruby asked, she shakily got to her feet. Summer knew the ability to walk was lost to her, but she needed to fight of Grimm. So she used her glyph tattoos to create a platform just above her ankles, allowing her to put the weight on those rather than on her useless feet. "I'm going to go out first, then you count to ten. Once you reach ten I want you to run, run as fast as you can. Head the same direction we were heading in before we stopped here. Okay? Can you do that" summer said to Ruby. "Ye-yes, I will" Ruby said "you are going to be right behind me right?" Ruby asked. Summer felt her heart shatter, "of course" she said in an upbeat tone "I'll be fallowing you the whole time. But you have to promise not to look back. Just run until you get to the island of Patch" Summer told her daughter "Don't stop running! Promise me?" Summer asked. Ruby looked confident "I promise"

Summer moved herself to the front of the cave. She was face to face with over two dozen Boarbatusk. A weak Grimm by itself. But there was strength in numbers. "okay Ruby, start counting!" she called back to her daughter. "one" Summer busted out of the cave, keeping the ward active. "two" she sent her knives flying at two Grimm at once, then turned to move away from the cave entrance. "three" Summer was slicing and cutting Grimm as fast as they could emerge out of the bushes. "four" she had gained the attention of every Grimm in the area, but her estimation of 24 was way off. There were now over 50 Boarbatusk staring her down. "five" she let fly two more daggers, the inside of her battle cloak was covered with them so she didn't mind using a few. "Six" she put more distance between the Grimm and the cave, slicing a boar as it jumped at her. "seven" Summer was starting to run low on stamina, she was using more of her throwing knives then she was cutting the grim. "eight" Summer started using her trump card tattoos. Using explosive glyphs and throwing daggers with the power of the wind backing them. "nine" Summer was losing ground now, she missed an attack and was stabbed in the stomach before she could stop the Grimm. but managed to focus enough to deactivate the ward on the cave. "TEN!" ruby yelled, and shot out of the cave, passing dozens of dead Grimm. Summer watched Ruby run. Then was killed by a tusk stabbing into her liver. As Ruby ran, tears running down her face, all the Boarbatusk paid her no mind. Instead they enjoyed the meal they just killed.

* * *

(chapter 4 fighting through the pain) [Ruby pov]

'Grimm' I thought, fear trying to wiggle its way into my mind. But I was a huntress…in training. I had prepared myself to fight these monsters. I looked over at Weiss, she was composing herself better than me. I could almost hear her thoughts as she readied herself but I had other plans. "Weiss" I said, talking low trying to not alarm the Grimm into attacking. "what is it Ruby, I'm trying to focus" she said through gritted teeth. "we need to get out of here, if we try to attack now we'll be over run in no time" I said, not moving a muscle. The Grimm still stood a dozen yards away. I hope it stayed like that for just a bit longer. "no duhh. And how exactly do you suggest we do that? Hope the giant beast lets us escape?" she said. Annoyed with me stating the obvious. "clench your teeth" I said in a low voice. "what?" she whispered. "I don't want you to bite off your own tongue, so clench your teeth together" I ordered her.

The Grimm decided to wait long enough for us to attack first. It charged at us. Branches and dead leaves flying everywhere as it raced for us. I saw Weiss clench her mouth in fear, but it was what I needed. I activated my tattoo, a flood of energy poured through me. My world seemed to slow down, it felt like I had hours until the Grimm reached me. But my priority was Weiss' safety, so I started to run. I was next to her in three steps. The Grimm hadn't even put his second raised foot to the floor. I grabbed the back of Weiss' head, holding it in its proper place. And I grabbed her waist, slightly lifting her feet of the ground as I did so. I felt my face grow hot from our closeness. But didn't pay it any attention.

I took off running while holding Weiss. I wasn't being slowed down as much as I thought I should have from her extra weight 'she actually feels much lighter than I expected' I thought. The forest was a blur around us, I could make out the details of objects that were within a five-foot radius. Outside of that I could only see the color green with random shadows and brown patches. Within a few moments we were a long ways away from our Grimm encounter. I looked at Weiss while in my super speed mode. Her eyes were just now starting to close, very slowly.

I stopped my running in what I thought was a clearing. My tattoo was pulsating my calf muscles, it had this effect whenever I turned them off. It was like they were begging me to turn them back on. I looked at Weiss and asked "why are you so light?" I was really interested in knowing. She stiffened in response "I have a tattoo, it decreases my weight. It was a very practical tattoo" she said, almost robotically. 'that was a weird way to answer' "well it certainly helped today, I probably wouldn't have been able to carry you long if you weighed a normal weight" I said. She looked at me, a serious look across her face "so are you going to tell me how you did that? I've read about a lot of tattoos, but I have never heard of one that could teleport" Weiss stated, but it felt kind of like a question. "it wasn't teleportation, but that would be cool if I could do that. No, it was just me running. I can run really fast" I said, painfully putting a smile on my face, not wanting my true feeling about it to be known.

"I want to see it" she said. "what?" I asked in confusion. "I've seen acceleration tattoos. But their speed boost is nowhere near that level of speed. I want to see how yours works" Weiss said firmly, leaving no room for argument. "after we get out of here, sure. But don't expect to understand how it works, I don't even get it" I told her. She nodded, and changed the subject. "we need to get higher ground. it would make finding those relics much faster". It was a good idea, but most of the trees in this forest were the same height, so climbing one wouldn't offer much in the way of a vantage point.

*Kaaawww*

Me and Weiss looked up at the same moment. "is that?" she asked herself. I answered anyway "yep, it's our higher ground" I said. Her eyes shot down to look at me. "are you insane?" she asked. I ignored her "do you have a way to get us up there?" I asked. She pointedly didn't answer, which means she totally did. "maybe while were up there we could harvest some blood? Nevermore blood is the rarest and it's worth the most on the open market" I said nonchalantly. "alright" she said eagerly, but seemed to catch herself and went back to being proper "okay. But if we die, I'm never going to forgive you" she said, and summoned a glyph. "step on, I'm using an acceleration glyph on us, jump when I say, you should be able to jump high enough from the power of the glyph" she explained

I stepped on and she waved her sword in the air. I felt a surge of power shoot straight into my muscles. "jump!" she yelled. I did so. 'this is awesome!' I screamed internally. I felt like a super hero, just a simple jump sent me higher than all of the trees. I looked over at the nevermore we were aiming for. It was closing in on us. But it didn't expect us to jump this high and reared up its head. But before it could positon itself to eat us, we landed on its back. I looked over at Weiss, she landed a few feet away. "this is so stupid!" she yelled over the sound of the wind. "draw the blood, I'll find the relics" I yelled back.

Weiss fumbled around with her shirt, pulling out a needle and glass vile. I looked over the massive wing of the nevermore, the bird seemed confused where we went, but didn't look into it too much and carried on with its flight. Way off in the distance I saw a larger clearing than any of the others, it looked like it had some broken white pillars. "Weiss! I think I found it, be ready to jump in a few!" I yelled at her. "this is so stupid. Why did I let you talk me into this!" she said to herself. But I noticed the smile on her face, she probably didn't even know it was there.

"okay! Jump!" I yelled as the clearing passed under us. "what?!" Weiss yelled, but I jumped when I said it. Her yelling caused her to lose her grip and she fell off the bird anyways. I was in a state of pure joy, this was an amazing feeling. It made me wish for the tattoo that gave me wings. "AAAHHHHHHH" Weiss didn't sound like she was agreed with my thoughts on the matter. She sounded absolutely terrified. 'I should probably catch her' I thought. Taking out Crescent Rose, and fully deployed her. Flipping her around my hand I stepped in the non-sharp part of the blade and fried a shot. I glided to Weiss from the blast it made. "AAAHHHHHHH!" she screamed into my face. I grabbed her waist and held her close. She instantly stopped screaming. 'ahh, much better' I thought at her silence. I fired all five remaining shots in crescent rose. Allowing our fall to be nothing more than an easy landing that we both perfectly made.

* * *

"you can stop holding my waist now" I jumped back from her words, not realizing I still had been. "sorry" I muttered. "Well were here, lets grab one and head back" Weiss said, ignoring my apology. I grabbed the first chess piece I saw, a golden horse. Putting it in my pocket I turn back to Weiss. "okay, let's get out of here" I say and walk over to her. "Ruby!?" a voice called out as the person entered the clearing. "Yang? I said to Yang. She ran up leaving Blake behind. "I'm so glad you didn't get hurt, I was so worried" she said taking me into a bear hug. "nope. The forest is a breeze when you fly above it" I said to her. She let me out of the hug, and looked at me in confusion. I didn't enlighten her as to what I was talking about. "grab your relic. We'll all head out together" I said pointing to the relics.

Her and Blake walked into the circle of relics, choosing one they both came out to walk with Weiss and I. "ready to go sis?" Yang asked. She ran her gaze over Weiss. "sorry about your partner Ruby" Yang said. "hey" Weiss said offended. "Yang. I'm happy with Weiss being my partner, and friend. Be nice" I said giving Yang my best cold stare. "but sis, she was mean to you" Yang said. I was annoyed at her insistence. "no she wasn't" I said. "you only thought she was. Giving someone a lecture in a loud voice is not being mean. Right Weiss?" I said, asking Weiss as she looked down in shame. "I didn't mean to yell" she said in a low voice. "see. Now we're all going to apologize to each other. Got it" I said, looking at everyone. "I'll start. I'm sorry Weiss for knocking you down and maybe damaging your stuff" I said in a sincere voice to Weiss. "I'm sorry for yelling at you right after" Weiss said to me. Yang sighed heavily "fine, I'm sorry for judging you and wanting to hurt you" Yang said. Weiss nodded then Yang's words sunk in and she looked terrified. I looked at Blake. "what?" she said. I gestured at Weiss, then back to Blake. "what?" she said again. I stared her down the best I could. She through her head back in defeat "okay, I'm sorry for the mean, but factual things I said Weiss" Blake said. To my surprise Weiss responded nicely "while they are truthful, I didn't enjoy being blamed for them. I am not my father. I would like it if you judged me based off me"

With that done. we set off, me walking in-between Yang and Weiss. Blake was shocked for a moment by Weiss' words but recovered and fallowed behind us, not wanting to walk even with us. We walked for a while before being in an old town, it looked like it was an old worshiping site, but it was half broken apart, and most of the buildings were hardly still standing.

*Kaaahhh*

The same nevermore Weiss and I rode in on was perched on a pillar that was standing in a deep ravine. "do you think he is still mad at us?" I asked Weiss. In answer the nevermore flapped its wings, sending a volley of blade tipped feathers right at us. We all dove behind various buildings. "we need to make it across that bridge!" Weiss yelled from behind a wall. "well unless you have bird repellent there is a small problem with your plan!" Yang yelled back. "we need to kill that thing" I said, getting a look from everyone that said I was crazy. "I'm serious, we need to get it closer. If we distract it, we can get higher ground and attack down at it" I explained. Yang nodded "okay, I'll get it to pay attention to me, you make it across the bridge and climb those pillars" fear griped me at her words. "NO!" I screamed, panic pouring out of me.

Yang knew why I said it the way I did, fear from what happened in my past with my mom. "no one is getting left behind! We all go together or we all wait here. Nobody is going to be bait!" I yelled to everyone. Weiss and Blake nodded to me, Yang knew I was serious about this and nodded too. "fine sis, what's the plan?" yang asked, and we all grouped together behind a wall to talk without the need to yell. "Weiss, I need you to use that acceleration glyph and give you three a speed boost, I'm fast enough on my own. We need to make it to those pillars, the nevermore should take off once we come into view" I explained. If we can't outrun it like that, we come up with a plan once we cross the bridge.

We nodded and Weiss did as instructed. Giving Blake, Yang, and herself a speed boost. "GO!" I yelled and sped off, staying in front of everyone, but moving slow enough to stay near them. The moment we crossed the ark that started the bridge, the nevermore took flight. Circling high above it rained down volley after volley of feathered blades. We did our best to maneuver in between the shots. Coming close a few times, but not close enough to do damage, the nevermore seemed to have unlimited ammo. As we crossed the halfway point, the bird flew under the bridge, destroying a support pillar in the process.

The half we just crossed gave out and fell to the bottom of the ravine. "get higher ground NOW!" I yelled back at everybody. In reaction Blake shot her gun, launching it to a tall pillar next to the bridge, the elastic rope attached to her gun slingshoted her up to the pillar. 'that's it' I thought coming up with a plan so crazy it might actually work. "Yang, get to the top of that pillar" I pointed to the one parallel with Blake's" she nodded and jumped off the bridge, I panicked until I was blown back by a gust of wind caused by the rising nevermore, Yang shooting blast after blast into the beast's mouth. I looked back to Weiss "I need you to fire me right at the nevermore" I said calmly to her. "how?" she asked, confused by my request. I turned to face the pillars where Blake, and now Yang were. "Blake throw that rope to yang, make a line separating you two" I yelled at them. Blake fallowed my orders and fired her weapon, sending her elastic ribbon to Yang. I unfolded Crescent Rose, and launched myself upward, then to the top of the cliff. The nevermore fallowed me and positioned itself perfectly for my plan. Firing myself straight past the bird I hooked Blake's ribbon on the dull end of my blade. Weiss used a triple layer Glyph to hold me farther back, turning Blake's ribbon into a giant slingshot. "you are absolutely out of your mind. But this might just work" Weiss said as she lined me up to fire. "do you think you can make the shot?" I asked, knowing if she missed I would end up being bird food. "can I~" she said, a little over confident. "can you?" I wanted to know, my life was on the line here. "of course I can you dolt" she said, annoyed at my insistence

The nevermore hovered in place directly in front of me, just long enough for Weiss to let go of the energy holding me in place. I launched through the air spinning my scythe to position it for the perfect strike. Right as I passed the Grimm's head, my sweetheart gripped firmly onto its neck. My momentum was enough to send me, while holding the Grimm, right into the cliff wall. But instead of falling, my feet hit the wall as if it were the ground, I started running up the vertical wall, 'must be gravity manipulation' I thought. But I didn't think long. This beast was HEAVY! And I didn't have the raw strength to drag it upward. I used the remaining bullets in Crescent Rose to boost me up to the top of the cliff. As soon as I reached the top, I went to the normal level ground and yanked my scythe. Severing the nevermore's head in the process. I stood at the top, the rose pedals caused by me using my tattoos to run up the cliff reached the top and the wind circled them around me. "WE DID IT!" I yelled down to my friends, the loudest I could manage. After which I blacked out from exhaustion.


	5. Chapter 5 School troubles

(chapter 5) [Ruby Rose pov]

My eyes fluttered open. Blinding light filled my vision. I recoiled away from the light, but someone held me against them. I realized I was being given a piggyback ride. I wanted to ask what was going on, but all I could manage was a tired "whaa-h" but a voice answered the question I couldn't articulate. "what were you thinking? Doing something so stupid. You are really lucky it worked, you could have killed yourself!" was the slightly angry voice of my partner, she was talking behind me. I didn't have the energy to move, so I just accepted my fate and listened to her scolding. "I can't believe you ran out of aura, you're lucky there was only one Grimm to fight" so that explained my tiredness, my aura was drained. At least we beat the nevermore. "Weiss! Let it go. Let Ruby recover some more before you talk her to death" Yang's voice said, she was definitely the one carrying me. Yang's voice vibrated through me, I was on her back and being carried just like she had always carried me as a child. I always liked getting piggyback rides.

My eyes still didn't have the energy to open themselves when we all encountered a new set of voices. "congratulations on completing the trials, you four are the last group to be accepted into Beacon. Please proceed to the infirmary if you have any life threatening wounds, team grouping will be held in the same hall as before. Proceed with hast" I remembered the voice, it was Glynda. The other three with me agreed to her and we set off again. After some time, I heard Yang ask me something "hey, Rubs. You think you have the strength to walk? I need to go stand with Blake, and you have your own partner to stand with" she asked in a voice that regretted her having to leave, but sounded like she didn't have a choice. "sure" was what I could manage saying, I slid down her back falling to the floor in a pile of unresponsive arms and legs. I managed to move my arms enough to grab a hold of someone.

My eyes finally opened to show me Weiss, I was able to really look at her for the first time. Long white hair, put into a ponytail that sat just off to the side of her natural part line. Her face was perfectly smooth, the only thing that didn't naturally belong on her face was a faint scar, I started at her forehead, then went straight down across her left eye ending just before her cheekbone. It fit her perfectly, it looked like she almost lost her vision from getting it, but her eye isn't clouded like a normal blind eye, so I guess it could still see. "do I need to carry you? Or can you manage to stand on your own?" she asked, I was still sitting on the floor, my hand still in hers. I wanted to talk, I wanted to tell her I could manage it on my own. But just as I was looking into her eyes, my mouth dried up and my brain shut itself off.

"I, uhh. I" was all my brain could throw out of my mouth. Weiss took it as me saying I needed help. She squeezed my hand tighter, and lifted me up. my legs were stronger than I expected, but if they had to hold me up on their own, I would wind up back on the floor. Weiss showed she was stronger than I guessed, she held me with her shoulder, lifting most of my weight off of my legs. "thanks Weiss" I said. She looked away, but our closeness prevented her from hiding her face, her honest and sincere smile. "dolt" she whispered.

We were directed by a teacher to stand in a certain place in line. Because we were the last group to pass, we were in the vary back. The line was broken up into four groups. Yang was with Blake in the line across from us. Ozpin walked out on stage once all of us students were in place. "Ladies and gentlemen. Allow me to start off by saying, congratulations. You are the select few who has the potential to excel and prosper in a future life as a huntsman. You will all one day join the forces of an army that was battled darkness since the dawn of time. Through the use of your weapons and tattoos, you have the power to hold back the darkness that threatens every man, woman, and child. Your individuality is what defines you on this path, not too long ago that was attempted to be taken away, the thought was, if you didn't have a sense of strong will, the Grimm wouldn't see you as a threat. It was a grave mistake. But your parents fought back against the threat on individuality, you were given special names. Names are a powerful tool, being named after a color gives you the power to be whatever you set out to be, it allows you to find your own goals in life. You all have fallowed your desire and arrived at my school. You are all still an unpolished rock. But given time and education, I will see you all graduate as colorful gems" he finished his speech.

The giant monitor Ozpin stood under, lit up. "you all will be assigned teams of four, the relics you selected are what will determine your team. Cardin Winchester, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing, Sky Lark. You four retrieved the black bishop" the four boys mentioned stepped up on stage. "you four will be team CRDL, cardinal. Led by, Cardin Winchester" Ozpin announced. The one in armor had a smirk on his face, as if he felt the title of leader was his entitled right.

"Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren. You four are to be known as, team JNPR, juniper. Led by, Jaune Arc" The boy on stage looked confused that he was chosen as leader. But the tall red headed woman looked thrilled. She smiled brightly and playfully punched the newly named leaders arm. With a pathetic show of balance, he plummeted to the ground with her hit. The redhead looked worried, but kept up her happy expression and waved to the crowd. Then they all walked off the stage.

We were up next, Weiss was still supporting my weight, but by this point I felt I could a walk fine by myself. But my body refused to separate from Weiss. I didn't understand what I was feeling. It was like my stomach was flipping itself over and over. Every step we took together felt like it took a lifetime, but once we arrived on stage I was wishing for a longer walk. 'I need to get some rest. I'm going crazy' I thought. Ozpin started talking "Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long. You will be known as, team RWBY, Ruby. Led by, Ruby Rose. 'What!' I thought in a panic. "oh, I'm so proud of you!" Yang yelled as she grabbed me in a bear hug. I was lifted away from Weiss, and my body ached from the loss. Yang set me down and we all walked off stage.

Weiss was looking at me with an annoyed look on her face. "what's wrong Weiss? Are you mad about not being chosen leader?" I asked, the only thing I could think she would be upset about. "yes, but that's not what I'm currently looking at you for. I was just thinking that it's good to see you being able to walk" she said, at first sounding annoyed, but shifting into a nice and mostly comforting tone. "oh, I guess I healed up pretty fast. Sorry if I was being a burden earlier" I said, wanting to continue to be a burden if that meant I could be held by her again. 'what the heck am I thinking!' I yelled at myself.

"it's okay. I didn't really mind. We are partners, so I will have your back" she said. I was surprised by her acceptance of me. From our first meeting, I would have never expected to be anywhere near this close to her. I assumed we would never be able to get along. But now, she was almost nice to me. Sure Weiss was still callous, but the more I talked with her, the more I saw who she really was. A girl who cares about others, but either doesn't know how to express it, or was never allowed.

"are you ready to go Dolt. We need to head to our assigned room. I'm exhausted, and I really want a bath. A bed sounds nice too. The floor yesterday didn't promote a good night's sleep" she said, we all walked to our team room. It was simple and bare. Our stuff was already stacked in a corner, five white bags stood out as Weiss'. But we mostly ignored them, only grabbing our sleepwear and one by one getting ready for bed.

* * *

(first day of my new life) [Weiss pov]

*ssseeeeeeeeee*

A high pitched sound screamed in my ear. Throwing me out of my dream. "wuahha" I yelled as I fell out of my bed in real life. 'dangit, it was just getting to the good part' I thought, my brain trying to pull in the memories of my dream. Like always with a dream, once you wake up your only left with a vague summary of what you dreamed about. 'Ruby' my mind told me. 'Ruby?!' I thought in confusion. 'why would I be dreaming of Ruby' I asked myself. The vary person now filling my head spoke aloud in the real world "Gooooood morning team RWBY!" she yelled. I was using my bed to stand up, wanting to crawl back into it and forget today already.

*ssseeeeee*

the whistle Ruby was holding blasted me again. "what is your problem!?" I snarled. Ruby jumped back, but unfazed by my outburst. "it's time to start our first mission" she declared. "what are you talking about?" I asked in confusion. She adopted a heroic pose "we are going to make this room our own!" she joyfully said. Blake stepped forward and added. "we need to unpack and decorate" she held up her bag, which decided to explode open and spill its contents all over the floor, seeing this she added "and clean" I noticed something as I looked at the three other girls in the room, I was still in my sleeping gown. While they all had on their school uniforms. 'did I oversleep? Or did they let me sleep in?' I wondered. "Yeah Weiss. We're going to make this place look amazing. So let's get to it! Bonsai!" she yelled "Bonsai" Blake and Yang also added in their own "Bonsai!" right after. 'did they practice that?' I thought. "fine, I'll help. Just let me get changed first" I said, suddenly uncomfortable being seen in my sleepwear.

After I got dressed, I unpacked all of my clothing, everyone else was doing the same. Yang had hung a few posters from what I assumed was a teenage boy band. I don't really fallow music like that, so I wouldn't know if that's what they really were. Blake was filing up the bookshelf our room had. Ruby was hanging a curtain that matched her cape in color. 'there must be a story behind her wearing that' I thought as I stared at her. ' _we all have dark pasts, that must give her motivation to keep moving forward, just like you and me. Right Weiss?'_ a familiar voice asked, reminding me of how I used to cope with my father. I fought the urge to curl up into a ball and found the one thing I brought with me from my old house. The painting my mother drew. It was a portrait of a burned forest, but littered on the ground were saplings and fresh life. I hung it up so I could see it wherever I was in the room.

We all stood back and looked over the room after we finished unpacking. It looked like a typical teenage girls' room. The only problem was we brought too much stuff, and once it was all laid out there was no more room for our four beds. Currently all four were piled together in the center of the room. "well this isn't going to work" Yang said, talking about the bed problem. "we do seem a little limited on space" Blake added. "unless you want to get rid of the beds, we're going to have to get rid of some stuff" I said. But I felt that no one, including me, wanted to get rid of anything. "that's a great idea Weiss!" Ruby said. 'what? getting rid of the beds?' I thought. "we'll ditch those beds. And build totally awesome bunk beds!" she said in a childish but ecstatic tone. "that sounds incredibly dangerous" I said, but it went unheard by the others. "Great idea sis" "it does seem efficient" Yang and Blake said, in favor to Ruby's plan. "I say we put it to a vote" I asked aloud. 'one of us could get hurt, Ruby could get hurt' I internally said. A pain running through me at the thought of ruby being hurt in some way.

"I think we just did Weiss" Ruby offhandedly said. Yang and Blake nodding their confirmation. I sighed and begrudgingly agreed with this new plan. We sprang into action. Me and Ruby were on one side, while Yang and Blake were obviously on the other. I chose the bottom, mostly because Ruby begged to be the top bunk. 'those eyes are impossible to say no to' I told myself. We stood back and admired our handy work. Blake's bed was on bottom, with dozens of books that didn't fit in the bookshelf, holding up Yang's bed. It looked very stable for a bed built by teenagers. My bed however looked like a death trap. Ruby's bed was free floating above mine, only being held up by a few ropes tied by questionable knots to the ceiling.

"Okay! Now onto our next mission!" Ruby announced. Then plopped down onto my bed and sighed "classes. We have a few together today, first is at 9:00" I panicked as I looked at my watch "did you say nine?! It's 8:55 you Dolt!" I yelled as I ran out of our room and down the hall as fast as possible. Not stopping until I reached the classroom. I made it with seconds to spare, the other three were only slightly behind me.

* * *

[Ruby pov]

Our first class was a class every hunter had to take to move onto real hunting. Tattoo 101. After arriving right on time, Weiss insisted we sat in the front row. I didn't object, I liked tattoos so I was eager to learn more about them. Yang and Blake didn't like the idea, but we stuck together as a team. The class started out simple. Just a rough explanation of Tattoos and their history. Professor Port was our teacher. A round man with a big mustache and military looking uniform. He had tons of tattoos, I could see a few peeking out from his collar and sleeves. "Future Huntsman and Huntress' it is my pleasure to welcome you on this first step down the long road to being a hunter. I know it's already common knowledge but I have to start somewhere. Why we use Tattoos to fight Grimm" he started his lecture, Weiss was already taking notes and had an intense look on her face. 'better not disturb her' I thought and got back to listening.

"back before mankind found dust, we were the bottom of the food chain. It was unheard of to fight Grimm and win. There are some stories of people fighting with only physical weapons and saving their own lives, but never keeping a city such as Vale or the three other kingdoms safe for long. The discovery of Dust changed that. It opened up whole new doors for mankind. One of which is still used to this day, Firearms. But those were thought of as inefficient back when villages were only protected by a small number of men. Mankind started to fuse dust with their own bodies instead. That is where tattoos come from. It gave an ordinary human or Faunus the power to slay the mightiest of Grimm. It became such a common thing after the centuries, that we as mankind could actively go out and hunt Grimm, no longer fighting a losing battle against them"

"but overtime the power of dust alone wasn't enough to combat Grimm. The more man expanded and populated, the more emotion the Grimm could feed off of. Thus came the idea for using the Grimm's power to fight off Grimm. Mixing blood into tattoos. No longer were we bound by the 8 basic elements. Grimm blood gave the ability to out match Grimm Because unlike Grimm, mankind had aura. We could utilize the full power that Grimm possess. Without Aura Grimm are nothing but mutated animals, but when we use their power we can achieve limitless power. But it always comes at a cost. Which moves me on to my next point. How many of you wish to be a tattoo artist in the future?" he asked the class. Weiss' hand shot up in an instant. 'I didn't know that about her' I thought. "I do!" Weiss called out. The professor seemed thrilled at the thought of having a student that wanted to be a tattoo artist. I looked around class, no one. Not one other person had a hand up 'is it really that uncommon to want to tattoo instead of fight?' I thought. "well come on young lady, why don't you help give me a demonstration" the teacher asked Weiss. Said girl jumped up and grabbed a bag I didn't even see her have a moment ago, and walked out to the center of the room.

I looked back to the other students, most were either asleep or distracting each other. The teacher rolled up his shirt sleeve, showing off dozens of tattoos of varying size, shape and color. "why don't you give me a Power tattoo. Show everyone it's just as cool to be an artist as much as it is being a hunter" he said sitting down on a stool that allowed Weiss to sit at the right level for giving a tattoo on the top of his arm. Weiss sat down and took out her tools. 'that's why she freaked out when I bumped into her. I knocked that bag to the ground and it spilled open. She must really like that stuff' I thought to myself as Weiss got to work. she started by mixing lightning dust in a pool of yellow colored ink. She mixed a type of blood into a pool of black ink. Once she seemed satisfied she fired up her tattoo gun and got to work.

"ahh! Interesting choice in dust Ms. Schnee. I'm thrilled to see the result" Professor Port exclaimed to Weiss. "why are you so willing to get a tattoo from a starting student?" Weiss asked. 'that is a really good point. It could turn out really bad if an incompetent student gave a tattoo' I wondered. "well Ms. Schnee, as you know it's a teacher's job to grow and guide a student. This is how I do that. Whenever I am able to teach a student who has a passion for tattooing, I choose to receive a tattoo from them, then after I teach them and they grow as an artist, I get another one. You'll see later how much you've grown and how much you have bettered yourself" he explained, he said it in a slightly loud voice as if her were giving a lesson to the class, but only me and Weiss were actually paying any attention.

"Okay, its done" Weiss said and stood up. pride showing on her face. I looked as best I could from my seat at the tattoo. It was a lightning bolt with a Ying Yang symbol in the center. "Ms. Schnee, where did you learn this tattoo?" Port said in a serious but not bad tone of voice. "it was in an old eastern mistral tattoo book. I read it had the power to allow the user to use their own Aura to produce an electric field around the body part that the tattoo is located on. Most of the eastern tattoos I found used a tattoo that projected Aura to have power" Weiss explained. "My, my. Young lady. I have never seen an eastern tattoo artist before. Where ever did you find such a book?" he asked. Weiss' face hardened, she didn't look happy about having to answer "my father's library. It has a vast array of tattoo knowledge. Even some that are considered lost" she said, almost going into her robot tone of voice.

He seemed to understand her voice as a message not to bring up the subject again. But another student from the class spoke up in his place. "Does it work?" the boy asked. I turned my head and looked at the new boy. Lie Ren, I remembered his name from the team naming yesterday. "excuse me?" Weiss asked, slightly annoyed that someone was questioning her ability. "eastern tattoos are a specialized type of tattoo. Only a few families are able to still do them" he said. In answer to his question Port punched the air. His arm arced and buzzed with a glowing and swirling electric field. "I'd say it's a successful tattoo" the teacher said. Ren seemed flabbergasted for the briefest of moments,but cought himself and went back to a blank face, he was even faster than when Weiss hides her emotions. "Ooo, Ooo. Ren! That looks just like yours do!" the pink haired girl said to him.

The class bell chose that moment to ring. Within seconds every student was gone. Leaving my team and the team that Ren was on. Weiss grouped back up with us and we all walked to lunch together. Once there we sat at a table Team RWBY, and team JNPR. 'my first ever table during lunch with friends!' I thought happily. "you were so cool in class Weiss. I didn't know you were such a good artist already. You totally have to give me a tattoo someday soon" I said, bouncing in my seat. "You-you really think so?" Weiss said a little hesitant. "Oh yeah ice queen. You looked totally badass earlier" Yang said. "I think it's a huge advantage to be able to tattoo tattoos just by reading about them. You really have a gift Weiss" Blake said. "see. You're amazing" I added in after my teammates praise.

Ren spoke up "Eastern tattoos are unique, the ability you showed today is remarkable. Hundreds of people back from where I'm from are trying to learn what you just showed" he said, his smooth voice hiding the real praise he was giving. "oh, I had no idea. I knew eastern tattoos were special, but I had no idea they were so sought after" Weiss said, not sounding happy to be talking about the subject. Everyone seemed to notice the way she said that and moved on to a different topic, we all talked about random things, until lunch ended.

Our next class was Grimm studies. It was going really well, we all sat in the front again. Not that I minded but this time all of the students were awake and paying attention. 'it's like they have a six-sense for which teachers are strict' I thought as the teacher slammed the desk of a student that was sleeping. I was too excited to even think of sleeping. This class was awesome, so much information about Grimm and their weaknesses'. "Hey Weiss" I whispered to her, being stealthy so I didn't get caught "which Grimm do you think is strongest?" I asked. She gave me a quick annoyed glance, but went right back to taking notes. "do you think I would be able to give tattoos as good as you do?" I asked another question, she looked back over at me, her eye twitching in frustration 'oh, she looks mad, I better leave her alone' I thought and went back to my own notebook.

I was taking notes the best I could, but it was all brand new to me. I moved ahead two years to be here. So it makes sense I would be behind the other students. I may have had the best grades in my old school, but what I knew and what every other student here knows, is a two-year difference in schooling. I missed a few parts of the lesson that the teacher already moved on from. 'Weiss is taking great notes. Maybe she can let me see that last part' I thought. Leaning over I asked "Weiss? Can you show me your notes?" I asked in a low voice.

*SLAM*

Weiss slammed her hand on the desk. I jumped in my seat out of surprise. Weiss was giving me a look full of pure hate and annoyance. "WHAT? Is your problem?!" she yelled out in the middle of class. My mouth opened and closed in fear and surprise from this unexpected outburst. "Ms. Schnee! You and Ms. Rose may head to detention. I will not tolerate any outburst's in my class" the teacher said. Weiss angrily grabbed her bags and stomped out of the room. I shook out of my shock and fallowed her moments later.

About halfway down the hall I caught up with her. "Weiss!" I called. She turned on her heels to face me and gave me a 'go die' look. "what is your problem?!" I exasperated "what happened in there?" I asked. "You! You are my problem. You're a child. You're an incompetent leader and you apparently, are a horrible student!" she listed off in a rant. I shrunk with every word 'she's right. I don't belong here' I said to myself. Weiss turned around again and walked away. I did my best to not allow tears to fall.

"well. That could have gone better" a voice said behind me, a very familiar voice. It was Ozpin I confirmed so when I turned around to face him. My emotions got the better of me in that moment. "Is. Is she right? I don't belong here, and I don't deserve to be the leader" I said, wanting to sound like I wasn't devastated by the thought of leaving this school. "he-he" he chuckled to himself "I don't believe so. I see greatness in you. i was actually on my way to get you out of your class" he said, he took a sip of coffee and started walking. I followed and asked "what for?" I asked. "it was the idea of Glynda to move you into some specialized classes. Seeing as you skipped two grades, she thought it would help you catch up to the remainder of the students here" he said "so you will remain in your current classes, but Glynda will teach you a fast paced class so you can keep up with the students. I don't think it should be a problem for you, you were top of you class back in Signal" he explained. "that sounds great. That's what got Weiss and I in trouble. I couldn't keep up and asked for Weiss' notes. The teacher didn't like us talking" I said, leaving out the real reason for being kicked out.

Ozpin walked me to detention. I entered and went to sit next to Weiss. But her ice cold glare pushed me to the other corner of the room. Where I spent the rest of the day.

* * *

[Weiss pov]

After getting out of detention. The first ever time I've ever received such a thing. I walked around campus. I didn't want to go back to the room. I feared Yang would beat me to death, so I was going to return later in the night, hoping she would be asleep by then. 'I can't believe her. That Dolt, her past grades were excellent, why the sudden drop in knowledge. Did she cheat her way to the top?' I wondered to myself. 'no, she doesn't seem like a cheater. But why couldn't she keep up then' I wondered into the tattoo shops that are on school grounds. A voice took me out of my thoughts.

"Ms. Schnee!" I looked over to the man who called me "Professor Port, what are you doing here?" I asked. "I always spend my time here. I find it relaxing" he said, gesturing out to the small group of tattoo shops. He did have a point. The more I looked around, the calmer I felt. "what has you so troubled child, it's written all over you face?" he asked. "it's just. I don't think it was wise for headmaster Ozpin to appoint Ruby as team leader" I blurted out, knowing it sounded childish. But lately I haven't been to caring with my childish tendencies, the fear of my father didn't reach this far, so I felt I could act differently. Like when I gave Professor Port his tattoo. I would have never been brave enough to tattoo so openly, my father would have locked me away if I did. But here I felt safe.

"ha-ha-ha-ha" a roaring laughter sounded from Professor Port. "my dear girl. Whatever makes you believe you are wiser than Ozpin. I have known him for a long time, and I have never known a man as wise as him" he said, only slightly talking down to me. I've been talked down to my whole life, so this little amount didn't even phase me. "but sir, I don't think she can handle this level of curriculum" I said. "I've been told about your leader. She was moved ahead two years was she not?" he asked. "yes! So shouldn't she be an outstanding student? She was able to skip because of her grades" I said, still confused by it all. "that is where your wrong. She was moved ahead because of her skill, not because of her grades" he said.

Suddenly everything made sense. 'no wonder she couldn't keep up. she needed help. She wasn't being lazy or trying to cheat. She really needed my help' I thought. "I'll see you next class Professor. I have to go" I said. He gave a wave goodbye and I hastily walked back to my room. It was already late, and when I reached the room it was well past the time for students to be asleep. I silently walked into our room. I was surprised to find a light on. It was coming from Ruby's bed. I stood on the corner of my bed and looked up at her. She was sleeping with an open textbook as a pillow. 'she's so adorable' I thought. 'stop thinking that!' I demanded of myself. I reached out and flicked her forehead 'Ha, payback for the whistle' I joyfully thought. She jumped up in surprise "what goi-!" I cut her off by putting a finger over her lips. "how do you take your coffee?" I asked. "Weiss!" she whispered in surprise "I'm so sorry about today. I didn't mean to get us in trouble" she whispered around my finger. "I know. I'm sorry for yelling and saying those things. I realized my error too late. I hope we can both get past today and become better teammates in the future" I took my finger off her lips, not realizing how much I enjoyed it being there, until it wasn't. "so if you work your hardest to be a better leader and student. I will work harder to help you in school, and be a better teammate to you" I pronounced.

We both blushed at my words "now how do you take your coffee?" I asked again. She poked her fingers together in shyness "five sugars and three creams" 'HOLY COW! That's sweet. Way too sweet to be healthy' I yelled in my mind. I wanted to say that. But she has the right to drink it however she wanted. I rushed away and made her cup. Handing it to her moments later. "thanks Weiss. I hope we can become great friends in the future" she said. 'that's not right' "what do you mean in the future? We are right now?" I said. I've never had a friend before. But this tickling feeling in my stomach whenever she was near, that had to be what it felt like to have a friend.

Ruby jumped up and tackled me to the ground, the coffee expertly placed on the desk as we fell. It was a long hard fall to the ground. "oww you Dolt. That hurt" I said. "I'm sorry. I couldn't stop myself. I've been worried all day you hated me. I'm so happy you still want to be with me" she was whispering still, but it was getting close to being loud enough to be a talking tone. "yes you Dolt. You can't get rid of me that easy. I'm stuck with you for four years" I said, making it sound like I wouldn't mind those years, and I knew right then, I wouldn't mind one bit.


	6. Chapter 6 Yang's Yanger

(chapter 6) [Yang pov]

I woke up today in the same mood I went to sleep last night. Pissed off. Weiss acted like a spoiled brat during our class yesterday. She not only yelled at Ruby, she got my little sister in trouble in the process. I was hoping I could "talk" to her in the training room after classes ended, but she never came back to the room. It didn't make me any less yangry at her. In fact, her not showing up made me want to give her a "talking' even more.

Blake however didn't think using my fists to solve my problem was a good way to fix the issue at hand. I trusted Blake, our first meeting was troublesome at best, but after we met in the emerald forest things changed. She seemed more open to the idea of us being friends. I was thrilled by the idea of getting closer to the mysterious beauty who became my teammate. She didn't talk much, but when I could manage to get a few words out they were always wise and helpful.

After waking up I looked over to my sisters bed, hers was across from me on our respective top bunks. 'she looks like she was up all night studying. Those papers Glynda gave her to do looked easy, but it's all new to her' thinking that just made me mad at Weiss again. My eyes wandered down to Weiss' bed. She was there, sleeping as if nothing was wrong. 'time to show her the fear an older sister can cause' I thought. I silently hopped down from my bed and tiptoed over too hers.

My tattoos were special. Only the two on my wrists did anything in terms of fighting. My other two tattoos only made me look like a monster from your darkest nightmares. Sending my Aura into the tattoos. Immediately my hair started to float around, like it was thousands of snakes looking for a meal. Fire also appeared to be lighting my hair on fire, an additional effect my hair tattoo dose. I allowed my anger to fuel my other tattoo, my most recent tattoo, my eyes shifted to the glowing red of a Grimm's.

I knew I looked terrifying. I maneuvered myself so I could look Weiss right in the eyes as she woke up. satisfied with myself, I thrusted my hands out and latched onto Weiss' shoulders. Her eyes opened in surprise from being woken up. but within seconds her eyes must have registered my appearance. "AAHHHHHHH!" a piercing scream of fear filled the otherwise silent room. She was trying to pull herself away, trying to kick and punch me. But I held firm forcing her to look into my red eyes.

Once Weiss stopped screaming and her instinct of running away calmed down, I allowed my tattoos to lose power. "Yang! What are you doing?!" Ruby yelled behind me, pulling at my waist. I ignored her, looking deep into Weiss' fear filled eyes "Don't ever yell at my sister! Next time I'll come find you if you avoid me. Don't let there be a next time!" I said, keeping my voice slow and steady so she could understand me though her cloud of fear. I was given a shaky nod as an acceptance of my threat. I let go of Weiss and walked into the bathroom. 'I feel much better now. Time to start the day' I thought with a smile.

I spun on the handle to allow the shower to start. The sound of water hitting the floor of the shower floor filled the bathroom. Disrobing, I let my sleeping shirt drop into the pile with the others. I did my best not to look down, but the color caught my eye. I looked at my wrists. Gone was the momentary amusement from intimidating Weiss. Now I was filled with sadness and anger. My wrists were covered in gold. An ink never seen used outside of my mother's family, and even then it is only for women. Resting on both of my wrists were two dragon heads, they looked as if they were eating my fists. Every part of the dragon heads was gold, shiny and reflective in any light. The only color were the eyes. Lilac, just like my own.

I hated these tattoos. The pain of receiving them was a constant pulsating ache rippling throughout my whole body. It was my constant reminder of the pain my own mother caused. Giving me these inhuman powers, then disappearing. Leaving behind me, my father, and my uncle her own brother. I desperately wanted to find her, not to bring back in the mother I never had. Summer was that and more. I wanted her to see me, and know that I've become someone better than she thought. But I knew it was a fruitless hope.

Stepping into the shower I quickly washed my hair, not exactly a fast process. But I was soon out and dressed in the beacon school uniform. 'I wonder if Weiss is still curled up in a ball on her bed?' I thought, bringing a smile to my face as I stepped out back into our room. To my surprise only Blake was there, sitting casually on her bed reading. "bathrooms open" I called out to her. She looked above her book to meet my eyes. "I thought I managed to talk you out of being violent with Weiss" Blake said, a small amount of accusation in her smooth tone. "I didn't hit her" I defended, "all I did was show her what she'll have to face if she crossed the line again" I said, sitting on Weiss' bed to talk to Blake on an even level.

She placed her book down and sat up to properly face me. "you gave her a panic attack. That wasn't just a casual warning. Why did you take it so personally?" she asked me. I let out a sigh, she was good at reading the underling intentions. "Ruby means everything to me" I looked at Blake, seeing if she understood. What I got was a nod, telling me to continue. "she's all I have left in this world. My last piece of sanity in this world" I took a ragged breath, Blake somehow managed to get me to open up, no one used to have this sort of effect on me. "she reminds me of someone. Someone who was taken away too soon, and I can't allow what happened then to ever happen again" I said, not wanting to tell everything, but knowing I had to tell her enough.

"you can't always be there for her. Someday you'll have to let her grow up" Blake said, telling me my own saddening thoughts. I stood up in fury, not at Blake, but at life in general. "I know that!" I snarled. Instantly regretting how I pointed my frustration at Blake. Hanging my head, I said "I'm sorry". Blake stood up and walked over to me. "it's fine. But I don't think you're going to be seeing much of Ruby or Weiss today" she said, effectively stepping around my burst of anger. "I expected Weiss, but why do you think Ruby too?" I asked. She walked into the bathroom saying "a girl knows things" and closed the door.

* * *

[Weiss pov]

In the haze of my blissful dream I was enjoying, I hardly felt the outside world. I was in paradise. Snow covered every inch of every surface, the field I was walking through felt nice and cold, just enough so to numb the fingers, but not enough of have fear of them suddenly falling off. As I walked I allowed my mind to drift onto whimsical things. Most pressing was Ruby. My first ever friend, she stirred up things deep inside of me. My outburst at her yesterday was a sour note. I had been too quick to jump to assumptions about her. It nearly cost me our growing friendship.

I will keep my word to her, I will stay by her through thick and thin. Ruby. My final thoughts before waking. I blinked open my eyes. My vision was overwhelmed with the glowing color of red. Fear instantly gripped my body. While I was unable to move in my fear clouded state, a pair of overwhelmingly strong hands grasped my shoulders. I was effectively helpless, I stopped struggling. I hadn't even realized my body was instinctually trying to get away. I couldn't look away from the fiery red that hovered inches away from me.

"Don't ever yell at my sister! Next time I'll come find you if you avoid me. Don't let there be a next time!" a voice consumed my mind, I couldn't will myself to do anything in response. My brain was slowly withering away in a puddle of panic and fear. I somehow knew I nodded to the fire ball with glowing red eyes. Instinct guiding my actions more than my own thoughts.

The death grip on my shoulders completely let go. I felt the mattress push back up into its original shape. My bed was now unoccupied, other than the shivering mass that I couldn't put my own name too. It felt like hours before my brain shook itself from the shock of morning. But once I fully came from my fear induced shock, I felt something pressing down on my chest.

Waking up for what felt like the second time today, I was meet with a tangled mess of brown hair. I knew what just happened wasn't a dream. As much as I wish all that just accrued was only a dream. My mind was forcing me to face reality. I just faced a monster more fearsome than any Grimm I will ever encounter. I was given a small taste of Yang. I knew I deserved every word, every ounce of fear was rightly mine to hold. 'never again will I give Yang a reason to hurt me' I told myself

The weight laying on top of me shifted and a pair of calming, deep, silver eyes looked up at me. "are you okay?" Ruby asked, a hint of worry in her voice. I still didn't know if I could speak. I had only been this scared once before. Last time I faced this level of fear I walked away with the scar on my eye. Yang could reduce me back to a child, locked outside in the winter cold, facing an Ursa. I never wanted to feel that helpless again. I was changed after that day, and I knew I was changed even more so after today.

"come on, we'll get breakfast. I'll talk to Yang about this later" Ruby said. She didn't sound happy about what happened. I was more than happy to leave this room as fast as possible. Ruby however, was still lying on top of me. My normal reaction would be to push her away. But no matter how much I told myself to push her away, my body kept pulling in her warmth. I wanted her to stay right where she was, I wanted to go back to sleep with her holding me. 'get ahold of yourself. If you allow Yang to scare you, she wins. Brush this off like you always do. She's only strong if you give her your fear' I told myself.

Fighting my body's inclination to remain in bed, I twisted out and to the side, freeing myself from Ruby. Without saying words, I dressed and waited for Ruby to do the same. Looking back at her after I changed into my school uniform, I noticed her face was slightly red around the cheeks. 'she must be embarrassed about something' I thought, wondering what could be on the caped girl's mind.

In a flash Ruby was dressed, and walking next to me down the hall. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but didn't know how to bring up what just happened. "Look. Ruby, what Yang did, it happened. I accept her words, because I deserve them" she opened her mouth to refute my words, but I silenced her with a wave of my hand. I was going to get through this conversation "I do deserve it. I was inconsiderate and I misjudged you. For that I can't apologize enough. If it takes Yang yelling at me, and reducing me into a blob of quivering fear in order to somehow forgive my actions in her own way. Then I will do that too" I felt an object crash into my chest, almost sending me falling onto my behind. "Weiss, I don't blame you for what you said. I understand how it might have looked from the outside. I already forgave you, I never held any of that against you. Weiss, you are my friend, and as my friend you get first crack at calling me out on being wrong. So don't go through this self-incrimination phase every time you hurt my feelings. I'm a big girl"

I was completely stunned. This girl. Ruby was able to not only lift me out of my hole of gilt. She noticed why I felt so bad, and took those feelings away. I was already forgiven in her eyes. "fine you Dolt. I'll be you friend who guides you to greatness" I said. She broke out of the hug and smiled up at me "as long as you get there with me" she said. My heart did an irregular beat, it was like I puppy was running towards you, only to trip on its own feet. The cutest thing that makes your whole body want to rush over and help. Ruby was that and so much more in that moment, I wanted to protect her, but I knew she would grow stronger if I allowed her to make her own mistakes.

We made it to the dining hall, not vary many students were up at this ungodly hour. Yang apparently gets up early 'probably so she has enough time to control that mass of hair' I thought. The only ones in the building were a team of upperclassmen. But they seemed happy sitting alone, so Ruby and I grabbed breakfast and sat down where we normally did. I enjoyed the silence as long as I could. Slowly students started to trickle into the room with us, mostly people I didn't know, nor did I care to know. coming to the end of breakfast, the people my teammates called friends arrived.

Only two of the four I actually liked. Lie Ren, the boy who became interested in my skill after I showed it off yesterday. He didn't say much, but I had the feeling he allowed his friend to talk for him. The other one I wanted to know, was Pyrrha. She was highly skilled and seemed like the perfect person to train with. But she seemed much more interested in her partner. So I kept myself silent and allowed Ruby to be the friendly one. I did want to someday be friends with these people, but if Ruby was any indicator, I came off as a terrible person when I was trying to be friendly.

Just as the conversation was getting boring, the bell rang. It was to start the day, not everybody had classes in the morning. Ruby and I did, so we both stood and left giving the friendliest smile and wave I could manage. I hoped it looked okay.

Yang and Blake were already sitting in class when Ruby and I arrived. Ruby instantly tensed up at the sight of her sister. I guessed it was a reminder of how she was still angry at her. My reaction was much more noticeable, the moment we locked eyes her lilac to my own, I jumped in place and hid behind Ruby. I knew it was childish, but my mind was still clouded in fear from hours ago. Ruby surprised me with her actions. Instead of sitting near her sister, she pulled me by my wrist to the complete opposite side of the room. As much as I was thankful, it felt wrong. I didn't want to come between family. I hated my own family, but me and my sister always tried to be as loving as possible. It felt sickening to come between that kind of bond between Yang and Ruby.

"Don't worry about it Weiss. I just need time to think how I'm going to yell at her later. I still want her to apologize to you, so until then I just need some time away. It'll show her I don't need her to protect me like she thought she was doing" Ruby explained after she noticed the look on my face. 'that dose make sense. But I dought I'll ever get an apology from her' I thought, but nodded to Ruby before sitting with her.

Today's class went much smother. I took my usual notes, then slid the paper to Ruby who took notes of my notes. It was an effective partnership. It allowed Ruby to work at her own pace, instead of the lightning fast lessons of the teacher. I mean literal lightning. The teacher was zipping around the room faster than any normal human could run. The only thing I knew was faster, was Ruby while using her tattoos. Compared to that, he seemed to be standing still. But the class was still relatively easy for me, so I could fallow him during the lessons. Ruby seemed excited to be learning, it was a quality I was happy she possessed.

The rest of the day went just like the first class, me doing the notes. Then Ruby copying and asking questions whenever she needed. Once the classes finished I was prepared to head to the library, hoping to find some books about tattoos. Ruby told me she had extra classes in order to catch up to the rest of us. I asked if she wanted me there with her, but she insisted she had to do it alone. I respected her determination, even though it hurt to be away from her.

So here I am, sitting alone in the library, a small stack of books around me. I wanted to do more research on the powers of Grimm blood, and Blood in general. I found a book I never would have had back in my father's library. It was the Faunus' old tattooing art of [skindancing]. It wasn't an ability only restricted to the Faunus race, it was just considered barbaric and crude so the human tattooist never adopted the practice.

[Skindancing] was the art of taking an object, both alive or dead, and sealing it into your skin. It took the form of a tattoo when it was sealed, but reverted to what it once was when released. It had its limitations though, it the object was alive, and had a strong enough will, it could kill its user and free itself. So the most common type of tattoo that was done, was the sealing of weapons or trained birds. But the potential was limitless. There were stories of people sealing whole forests on their bodies, animals and trees included. There was also folklore about men who sealed Dragons and other mythical creatures, then used them to fight great battles. Most stories seemed farfetched, but it gave me all kinds of ideas.

'it's old school [Necromancy]. It can do what my stupid back can't!' I thought excited. It was too, I could use this tattoo in order to give myself a summon able creature. I didn't need to be a Schnee in order to summon. I could work around my faulty back tattoo, maybe even alter it so it allowed me to control my skindancer monster. 'I'll need help with these tattoos. I can't tattoo my own back' I thought to myself. but whoever I asked, I needed to trust them completely. This was dangerous, and if anything went wrong, I could lose my Aura forever.

I took the book about skindancing, and headed to my room, all of my equipment was there. 'Yang is there too' I reminded myself. but this was more important to me. As much as I hated my back tattoo, I wanted to prove my father wrong more. So I was going to fix my tattoos, and give myself the power to summon whatever I wanted.

I didn't realize how late it had become, the moon was already high in the sky by the time I left the library. I walked back to my room with excited hast. All I needed was my tattoo gun and I could begin the process of fixing my life. But I needed time to draw out the new patterns. I needed to disassemble the tattoo on my back, adding to it, and covering it up. I hoped the end result would be what I hoped, but even if it failed it would only continue to be a useless tattoo.

I walked into the room, only to find it empty. 'they must be at dinner' I wondered. But disregarded it. I only wanted my tattoo bag. Grabbing said bag I quickly left, fearing I would confront Yang if I lingered for too ling. As I was making my way back to the library, my scroll went off.

*Ruby: Meet me in the armory. I'm hiding from Yang, so don't tell her*

*Me: Do you have food? I suddenly realize I haven't eaten yet*

*Ruby: Got it covered ;)*

I smiled at her messages. It was nice to have someone to rely on. I still wasn't happy about how her and Yang aren't getting along because of me. But I didn't think it would last forever. So I didn't let it get to me, I wanted Ruby to be her own person. Yang was being just like my own sister, too over-protective for her own good. Yang needed to give Ruby the space she deserved. It was my fault things got this bad, but if it wasn't me, then it would have been something else. These kinds of things only ever grew until brought to light. It was the same for me and Winter, and even worse for Winter and my father. It drove winter to join the military and pushed my father over the edge.

Entering the armory, I was face to face with every kind of weapon imaginable. From simple swords, to plasma blades. Pistols, to sonic hand cannons. Attachment for weapons covered every wall. Robotic equipment was readily available in every corner. Off in the distance was a gun range, it could be digitally edited so you could shoot anywhere from two feet, to four miles. Across from that was a combat arena, not as grand as the one for combat class, but it had various robots for fighting and practicing.

"Weiss!" a voice called "Weiss, is that you?" Ruby jumped out from a pile of robot limbs, did a roll on the ground from a cheap spy movie, then flipped herself upright in front of me "were you fallowed?" she asked, looking behind me like I was the bait to a complex trap. "What are you talking about you Dolt? And why are we here? Curfew is soon. We need to head back to our room" I said. She grabbed my arm and pulled me over to a corner, tucked behind a pile of various robot parts were two sleeping bags, two large plates of food and a couple of fire crystals acting as a makeshift campfire.

"what are you planning?" I asked, even though all of the answers were right in front of me. I needed to hear the stupidity aloud in order to believe it. "We're camping out here for the night. Yang kept sending me messages and I didn't want her to be right. So I plan on proving her wrong" she crossed her arms over her chest like she was being the bigger person. "this is insane. I am NOT sleeping on the ground again" I said, remembering the first day at beacon when everyone slept on the floor. "please Weiss. Don't make me sleep alone in this place" she begged. I couldn't possibly say no now. I would never forgive myself if I allowed her to stay her alone. "fine, but your making up with your sister tomorrow, got that?" I said, not wanting to give in without getting something in return. Ruby looked deep in thought, but finally said "it's a promise"

After eating I was back to my earlier determination, drawing up my new tattoos. I first needed to fix the one I already had in order to make it useful for the new tattoos. Pulling out a picture of my back, I got to work. I already looked up every asset I could find about my current tattoo. It was highly specific in what it did. But I was looking to change a small part of it. Normally it allowed the necromantic monster to only fallow the command of the master, no free will, no sense of self preservation. I wanted to allow me to influence the monsters I summoned from [skindancing]. These creatures had to keep their free will in order to become a tattoo on my body, so taking away their will power would be pointless.

It took hours of thinking and problem solving. But I finally had what I thought was a working design. It only took a few cover-ups, and I only had to add some simple spells to a few places. But the end result would be vastly different from the original. I was still however faced with the problem of giving the tattoo to myself. I was good, but it was impossible to tattoo my own back.

"are you done with you drawing" a voice cut me out of my own mind. I jumped in shock "huhh?" I get lost when I get serious, and I'm never more serious when I'm in a tattooing mood. Ruby pointed to my paper "You've been looking at it for fifteen minutes now, before then you were obsessively making marks. I figured that must mean you're done" she observed. 'was she watching me this entire time' I thought, feeling embarrassed. "yes, I'm done. I designed a fix for my tattoo. But I have no way of putting it on myself" I said, deflating in my defeat. I realized I spoke something I shouldn't have in that moment. Up next was the question I didn't want to answer. But I felt I maybe could if it was Ruby who wanted to know. "what do you mean Fix?" she asked, the pure innocence pouring out of her. "well, it's a long story" I started

* * *

(flashback: Weiss age 10) [Weiss pov]

My morning was going great. It was my birthday, my sister got me up early in order to give me her gift before mean ol-papa could yell at her. It was the best present ever, a huge pack of drawing pencils, with like, a billion sheets of paper. I told Winter I liked drawing, and how papa always yelled at me when he caught me using his paper to draw on. So she went out and secretly brought me a whole box of drawing paper. 'Winter is the best older sister ever' I joyfully thought.

Looking at the time, me and Winter went downstairs for breakfast. It would be the first time in a few months we all ate together. Winter moved out a while ago, because papa was always yelling at her. _'and now he yells at you, she abandoned you too'_ the mean voice said. 'Shut UP!' I yelled back in my mind. Today was my birthday, I was going to be happy today.

Winter grabbed my hand when I recoiled from the sound of the voice, she must have thought it was something else, I haven't told anyone about the voice. _'because you're afraid. Afraid, everyone will leave you. Lock you away. Call you crazy'_ the twisted almost feminine voice said. She was right, she always was. I didn't even tell Winter. I was afraid I would be called crazy. Like mom.

When we got to the dinner table, I was greeted by every member of our staff. All of them came and wished me a "happy birthday" before my father pushed them back to work. Winter sat in silence the entire meal. I don't think she's forgiven papa yet. "Weiss, I have your present all prepared for today" papa told me. I didn't know what it was, but Winter seemed to know. "absolutely not father" she said, she sounded more angry then I've ever seen her. "Silence! You ungrateful child. I will give my daughter the power of the Schnees. You are no longer a part of that decision!" papa yelled to Winter. _'look at what you cause. Without you, they would get along. Oh, Dear Weiss, you should just leave'_ the mean woman said. I did my best to ignore her.

"she's too young. She could die from it! I nearly died from it and I was older!" Winter shouted back. "you were weak! Weiss is stronger than you ever were. Do not mistake that!" papa said, still sounding angry but controlling it better. "so? You've finally lost it" Winter said, smirking like she won the argument. "what are you babbling about, you worthless child?" papa asked. "yours no longer works. So you need Weiss to get it now because I won't do your bidding" Winter said. "I STILL HAVE MORE POWER THAN YOU EVER WILL. I DON'T NEED TO DO ANYTHING! MY TATTOO IS STILL AT FULL POWER!" papa roared at Winter.

Winter just smirked, not fazed by papa's tone at all. "Weiss, it's time for you to receive your birthday present. Come with me" papa said. I nodded and walked over to him. "Father! You can't!" Winter said again, but papa kept moving towards the door, I knew I was to fallow. So I did.

In a room I've never seen before, was a single tattooing chair. A withered old man stood in one corner of the room, polishing various needles and tattoo guns. I was fascinated by all of the equipment. I liked looking at pictures in books about tattoo guns, but to see them up close was wonderful. "Weiss, today you are going to receive the Schnee family tattoo. Every Schnee in our grand history has gotten this tattoo. It is a powerful tattoo that allows you to use your opponents against themselves. It both symbolizes and emulates what it means to be a Schnee. Remember that" papa said, then her picked me up for what felt like a hug. But I was instead placed onto the chair and the other old man locked my wrists into straps holding my body in place. Before I could fight back with kicking, my ankles were locked as well.

"papa!" I yelled in panic. "the tattoo is painful, but if you move it will become damaged. This is for your own protection" papa said. I forced myself to calm down. _'you can't do anything. So just give in'_ the woman said. For the first time I listened to her.

It took hours upon hours to complete. The old man worked at an extremely slow pace. It looked like he was copying the details of the tattoo out from a book, but I never got a good enough look to know for certain. I wanted to all asleep, I wanted to take a break. But I couldn't do either. The pain forced me to stay awake, and the man didn't listen to my cries for pause. Papa stood there the whole time. Meticulously checking and rechecking every line the artist drew onto my flesh. My clothing had been cut away at the back, giving him access to all of my back. It was so embarrassing to allow a man to see me this way. I never wanted to feel so helpless again.

Once it was done I was released from my restraints and a butler escorted me to my room. Winter was there, she looked as if she was crying. I had been, and still was when she gingerly gave me a hug. I didn't know what to say. It was awful beyond words. The argument she was having before, made perfect sense now. "thank you for trying" I meekly said. Winter just rubbed my head, perfectly avoiding any spots on my back that would cause pain. "I'm so sorry" was all she could say. We slept just like that, me being held and Winter protecting me in her embrace.

(one month later)

Winter wasn't home anymore. She had to leave because of her job, and I was missing her. She stayed longer after I got my tattoo. She kept fighting with papa whenever I was around. Whenever papa tried to talk to me, Winter swooped in and pulled me away. But she left yesterday. "Weiss. It's time to test your tattoo. It should be more than healed by now. Come" papa said, while I was reading in the library. I got up and walked behind him.

It was the middle of winter. snow was collected in giant piles outside. The house was freezing cold wherever there wasn't a fire. But it didn't bother me. I enjoyed the cold. I wanted desperately to go out and play in it 'a proper lady doesn't play Weiss' the voice reminded me using papa's words. We reached the back of the house, the part that connects with a protected pathway that travels through a Grimm infested forest. I was told never to come to this part of the house alone. The closer we walked to the doors, the colder it felt. I was getting a sick feeling in my gut.

"here" papa handed me a small sword, a rapier. It was a little too big for me, but I was still confused as to why I was being given a weapon. "our tattoo is activated once you defeat something in a battle. You are going to calm your first warrior" papa said. "wh-what are you asking of me papa?" I asked, still confused. He turned and looked down at me "you are going to go and kill a Grimm, then you will become a true Schnee" he said. He then grabbed me by my shirt and swung open the doors. I was too shocked to move. In one motion, I was thrown out into a pile of snow, then I heard the door close, a lock signaling I wouldn't be going inside until I did as asked.

 _'this is what you mean to him. Nothing. Trash to be thrown away. GARBAGE. You are nothing but a child. Worthless_ ' The voice was a constant drum beating onward into the forest. It was apparent that I wouldn't be allowed back inside until I defeated a Grimm. I only realized that after I spent an hour pounding on the door. _'he will never let you back, you are meant to freeze. You are to die out here'_ the voice picked up again. I refused to listen, never again will I allow it to hold power over me. It told me to accept this tattoo. Now look at me, outside, in the cold, feeling on the verge of falling down and dying.

As if the wood could feel my emotion, I heard a snarl. The sound of a beast ready to charge. Looking around in a panic. A pair of glowing red eyes meet mine. Holding out my sword, I readied myself just how I had been trained. ' _don't die~'_ the voice said in a singsong way. The monster charged I jumped and rolled out of the way. It was huge, twice as large as me. It had to be a Beowoulf. It was strange to only see one at a time, but I wouldn't think about that now. It ran again, I could see how sloppy it's movements were. It looked wounded, a large bite was taken out from its side. Once it came within range, we both swung an attack. He slashing a claw downwards, me striking right into its head.

Both attacks hit. Mine killed the beast, it withered away into Ether while I dropped to the ground holding my eye. It managed to extend its claw out slightly farther than I predicted. I held my eye in pain before I was alerted by the sound of crunching snow. My first instinct was to kill the new monster, but I stopped myself when I was facing my father. "well done. Now summon that beast" he said, pride dripping from every word. I tried to do just as I was told. The tattoo warmed me up for a few moments. But as I channeled the energy. Nothing happened. Fathers face twisted in confusion and anger. "Summon it. I gave you the perfect monster to kill. You should have it saved! Now summon it!" he boomed. I stopped. _'I told you he didn't love you'_ the voice said.


	7. Chapter 7 Weiss' new tattoo

(chapter 7) [Ruby pov]

"after my father showed his true personality" Weiss said, her horrifying childhood story still being told to me "I knew I couldn't ever trust my father again" Weiss' words were hitting me hard. Compared to my past, hers was much worse. All I wanted to do was hug her, but I knew nothing would take away this level of pain and betrayal. "shortly after that, my father sent a few specialists to study my tattoo. They discovered the error on the design. It turns out the main component, the Prime as it's called, was incorrectly inked. As a result, nothing else of the tattoo functions correctly" Weiss finished.

That explained almost everything, but it gave me so many questions. I didn't want her to close herself off to me and I wanted this to be our way to grow closer. "Weiss, I don't know what to say" I really didn't. all of the words coming to mind would show how protective I felt for her and I didn't want her to feel like she needed my protection. "thank you for being so open with me. I just-" I was cut off by Weiss "stop. Me telling you my life story is just a thing I did because we're partners. Don't think you have to comfort me or anything. I've grown up, and I don't need you to ride in like my knight in shining armor. I've made plans for my future. my father will no longer be able to control me" she said.

I was silent, Weiss is amazing. Such a strong personality. She had been fighting a battle every day of her life, I didn't feel I could hold a candle to her bright strength of will. "Weiss, if you ever need anything no matter what. Please don't hesitate to ask me. Not just because we're partners, but because we're friends" I said, trying to sound as sincere as possible. Weiss looked away hiding her face behind her hand "th-thanks" she mumbled. I smiled at her shyness. It was something she only showed around me. Weiss acting shy was something I wanted to see more of, it was so cute.

I remembered what we were first talking about, before Weiss told me her childhood story. "so this tattoo you drew, will it fix your problem?" I asked. Both of our eyes looked to the almost forgotten sheet of paper. "it should. It's all a theory, I had to mix together two conflicting sources of magic. Nothing like this has been attempted to my knowledge. I could fail right away, or it could succeed and I would have to learn how to learn a new tattoo power. Or it could-" she mumbled the last part quietly. "or it could what?" I asked, my voice becoming concerned. Weiss didn't look at me, the darkness of the room preventing me from seeing her facial expression fully. "or I could die from it" she said, trying to sound nonchalant about it

It felt as if a cold hand wrapped around my heart from hearing her words. I knew getting any tattoo comes with risk. You're literally imbuing a primal force of power into your body. But even the minute chance of Weiss being harmed bored deep into my soul. It was a pain I only faintly remembered, I couldn't remember the exact reason for feeling this way, but I knew it was a painful memory that wanted to come back to the surface of my mind. I desperately wanted to tell Weiss not to do this tattoo, in my mind the risk was too great. However, after hearing about her past, and all the pain she forced herself to fight through. She was more than deserving of having whatever future she strives for.

"How can I help?" I asked, my smile hiding my uneasiness. She looked at me, we both looked at each other for a long time before she finally spoke "you can show me how good you are at tattooing" she asked, as if coming up with a plan while she talked. "I don't know if I can compare to you. But I'll give it a shot" I said. Weiss slid a thick piece of paper to me, along with a thick pen with a needle thin tip. They were tools to practice tattooing, the paper was similar to human skin in a way. While the pen wrote much like a tattoo gun inks, the only difference was the lack of vibrations that the real tattoo gun gives you.

Weiss watched me copy the picture she first pulled out. Her words only commenting on whether I should write in one direction or the other, and sometimes saying a certain line should be thicker. As I drew, I put together all of the pieces I could, trying to decrypt the meaning to the tattoo. It was mostly a bunch of lettering in a long lost language. But my instincts told me the power behind them but it didn't make any sense. "so is this the fix for your current tattoo?" I asked, trying to fill the silence. She was still focused on my drawing but answered anyway, "no, that is a picture of my back tattoo currently, if you can draw that accurately, I'll feel more confident allowing you to draw the changes. I want you to first understand the original, before you add anything to it" she explained, still not looking up from the paper I was also focused on.

"I thought this was an Heirloom tattoo, normally a family takes its secrets to the grave. Only passing it on to the lounger members of the family?" I asked. "that's true. But I don't really care about the Schnee family tattoo. And it's not like I'm selling it to a tattoo shop. I'm allowing a friend to help me" she said. My hand slipped upon hearing her words, a big line bisected the circle I was drawing in that moment. "Dolt! Focus on what you're doing. If that were my actual back I would have your hands removed!" she chastised me, but it had a subtle joking tone to it. I felt bad for messing up, but her words caught me off guard. I don't know why, we've already established our friendship, but hearing her say it so easily made my heart do a flip. "so-sorry. But other than the ending, how does it look?" I asked, holding up the paper for her final inspection.

Weiss held the paper a long time, inspecting every line with the precision of a master. I felt oddly uncomfortable, like a strict teacher was grading my final exam right in front of me. I wanted to impress Weiss, and that feeling confused me even more 'why does her opinion matter so much to me? Why should it bother me so much if she doesn't like it?' I asked myself as I waited for Weiss to give me her verdict.

"if I pretend the mistake at the end isn't there, I'd say it's a flawless depiction of my tattoo. I think you have remarkable skill" Weiss said, giving me a heart melting smile at the end. I was thrilled at her praise. Sure, I've had plenty of teachers in the past tell me about my skill in drawing. But compared to how much Weiss' words felt. Those past teachers seemed like unimportant strangers. "now try adding these adjustments to it, alter your work so these new lines and letters are able to function correctly" Weiss said, handing me the paper I first saw her drawing on.

They looked like old letters from the books about the great Faunus war. "are these from the old race of Faunus'?" I asked. She seemed to brighten at my question. "you're much more observant then I thought. That's exactly what they are. I found books on Faunus tattoos. They mostly work with nature and natural elements. But during the war, lots of attack and power based tattoos came into the light. This is an adaptation on one that allows a person to control an animal from the forests. It was mostly used for reconnaissance and spying on the human forces. I altered it so I can bind a creature using the necromantic power I already possess" she happily explained. It was a brilliant idea, and I don't think anyone else but Weiss would have ever thought of doing such a thing.

"so with [skindancing] you can seal anything on your body. Then bind it to you so you can summon it whenever you need it. And now with this, you can control that creature and attack enemies without needing to be in the fight yourself?" I asked, putting the pieces together. "that is pretty much it" she answered. "so let's say you find a, I don't know a dragon. Can you seal it and then it would fight on our side?!" _(A/N: season three ending foreshadowing)_ I asked, thinking how cool that would be. "oh, please. Dragons don't exist. And I'm sure it would be too powerful to control with any mortal mind if I could manage to seal it" she waved my idea off.

I sat back and leaned against the pile of parts we were using to camp behind. Weiss plan for a tattoo had me thinking. I wanted to do everything I could to help her, it was all I could do to take my mind off the fact she could die from this tattoo. As the pile of junk shifted I had an idea "can you only seal living creatures?" I asked. She looked puzzled "no, it was said to be used to hold weapons and other such inanimate objects, why?" she asked, still giving me a confused look. "perfect. Because I found something I think has great potential" I said, my excitement causing me to smile brightly. Weiss didn't look as excited, she looked as confused as she was when I first asked. "come with me" I said, hopping up and pulling Weiss to her feet, then dragging her to a door labeled 'Combat Testing-Level 5'

* * *

(RWBY dorm room) [Blake pov]

"I'm going to go look for them!" Yang yelled, for the hundredth time tonight. "she doesn't want you too, didn't you read the note she left" I replied for the hundredth time in response to her declaration. Yang had been smoldering for the past two hours. Ruby had left a short note saying she wouldn't be coming to the room tonight. She was referring to how Yang treated her at lunch. "just give her space, she won't get in trouble. Plus, I think seeing her now will only cause more damage, she'll return when she's ready to talk. Don't go looking for her" I said, feeling like I was saying it to a wall. "what did I do!? I was only trying to protect her" Yang said. I've had enough by this point. "let go through it step by step, shall we?" I asked, but continued on without waiting for an answer.

"you started the day by giving Weiss a warning of nightmarish proportions. That was understandable, and if you left it at that, it probably would have cleared up by lunch. However, you decided to take it a step further. You cornered Ruby during lunch, refused to hear what she had to say, and yelled at her for defending Weiss. Are you still confused about why she's angry at you?!" I did my best to say all of this in an attempt to get it passed her bull-hotheadedness. I slumped back into my pillow, the atmosphere in the room was too uncomfortable to read, but I tried anyway.

Yang was silent for a long time, the longest so far tonight. I looked over to her, she was sitting on the floor a pool of depression surrounding her. "I-I didn't-" she started to say something, but I cut her off "I know, and I'm sure Ruby knows too. She only wanted you to apologize. She didn't ask you to be less protective, or stop being her sister. She clearly doesn't want to be treated like a child anymore, so be the bigger person and apologize. You don't have to suddenly become friends with Weiss, but she's going to live with us for the next four years. So it's natural to fight once and a while" I said, being as comforting as I could. I didn't have a lot of experience with such a thing, but I remembered how I used to treat the young children back at home.

'home' I said the word in my mind and it traveled to deep corners of my memory. but I pushed down the rising feelings that word triggered. I was making a new home now. I can't let my past drag me down. "I don't know if I can Blake" Yang's voice broke me out of my downward spiraling thoughts. "do what?" I asked, wondering how many of her words I missed. "I don't know if I can't not treat Ruby like my baby sister. She means so much to me" yang said, almost pleading with herself. I gave her a moment to calm down, she was almost giving herself an anxiety attack. "Yang. It's going to be okay. If you make up tomorrow, you two will be back too being as close as you were" I said to my blond haired teammate

The room was silent. I almost went back to reading, but a heavy object hitting my bed bounced me all over the place. I looked and saw Yang spread out on the remaining space of my small bed "what are you doing?" I asked, my voice coming out much more annoyed then I actually was. "too depressed to climb up to my own bed" was Yang's answer. Ignoring the heat rushing to my face I said "fine, but only this once" taking my acceptance, Yang maneuvered from the bottom of my bed and slid in-between me and the wall.

I tried to focus back on my book. But the blond bombshell all but cuddling me, prevented me from seeing a single word on the page. Realizing the pointlessness of trying to reading, I shifted into a more comfortable position, the warmth of having Yang next to me was calling to my inner self. Without realizing it, I was next to her and borderline cuddling. I tried to shift away, but the strong arms of Yang held me in place. Her eyes were closed so I assumed it was an unconscious action, so I didn't fight it too much. It was really comfortable. "hey Yang? is there some other reason you want to be in my bed?" i asked. in response a hand worked it's way down my body and rested on my thigh. 'i'm not going to get much sleep tonight' i thought before turning around to better face my blond bed companion.

* * *

(combat room #5) [Weiss pov]

The inside of this room was virtually empty, all that could be see was a platform directly in the rooms center. "Ruby, what are you trying to show me?" I asked, the uneasiness in my voice telling her that I didn't feel comfortable. "don't worry Weiss, they shut down all the training bots after curfew. We'll be safe" Ruby said, only calming me down a little. We walked to a wall that had only a single door. Yellow caution markings covered the door, "don't open" "Danger" "don't open" those warnings repeated themselves all along the tape covering the door. "Ruby" I said, worried she was going where I think she was going.

Ignoring me, Ruby slid the ten-foot-tall steel door to the side. "TA DA~" Ruby said, singing it like a magic trick was just preformed. I looked inside the dark room. Mounted to the wall was a colossal metal knight. It was fifteen feet tall, it glimmered in the darkness as if it had energy crystals in all its major joints. "wha-what is this?" I asked, to captivated to think through the obviousness. Ruby stood next to me "it's an experimental combat android. It was deemed too dangerous for training and decommissioned. It was made by the Atlas military experimental paladin project" Ruby said, sounding as if she knew that off the top of her head. I turned to look at her, the shock of her sudden knowledge of her distracted me from the robot. I saw her looking at a small plaque mounted to the wall right next to me 'that explains her knowledge' I thought.

"why are you showing me this?" I asked, referring to the robot in the room. "because if I think I understand your future tattoo. This can be your ultimate weapon" she did a 'look how amazing it is' gesture with her arms. I thought about her idea. It didn't sound like a plan doomed to fail, but it had its problems. "how would I control it? Does it have some sort of remote control?" I asked, looking around the room. "that's what makes it special. This robot was made to act on its own. It uses the latest software to analyze and react to a battle situation. But it didn't have the ability to hold back, so when students tried to train with it. Well let's just say it didn't go well" Ruby explained.

"so you think my necro tattoo will enable me to control it more effectively?" I asked, putting the pieces of what she's been saying. "well? Do you think it can?" she asked. I didn't know. the tattoo was designed originally for slain enemy's, I only adjusted it to control living creatures that I bound to me. "only one way to know for certain" I said, confident in the outcome. "awesome! Now we just have to give you your tattoo adjustments, then you can tattoo this behemoth to your skin!" Ruby said, joy and excitement pouring out of her. 'what could possibly go wrong?' I asked myself.

We went back to out "campsite" and started to prepare the equipment. I was nervous. I have always dreaded getting another tattoo from anyone besides myself. but watching the concentration and focused look that Ruby had when drawing, my heart was put at ease. I felt I could trust her to do this, which was a completely new feeling for me. I hadn't felt trust since my father sent me out for my first killing. That moment seemed like a distant memory when I was with Ruby, it was as if being close to her put me at ease. Her closeness caused a ripple of warmth to cascade through me.

I mixed the ink for my tattoo. The original used a special type of Grimm blood. A Grimm said to be long extinct but the Schnee family had the only supply of it. So I couldn't use that to change the tattoo. I instead had to use modern dust and blood combinations and hope the newer generations would have a similar effect. Feeling satisfied I handed the ink over to Ruby. "if you have any questions, or feel any amount of worry. It's okay, I'll be right here to walk you through it. Just say calm and don't stress about it" I said, being as reassuring as possible. I was of course nervous, but I couldn't let her know that. I had to put my future in her hands and hope she could hold up the weight.

Ruby picked up the gun and got to work. it went smoothly, she only spoke when absolutely necessary and even then it was minor. The design hardly looked different, only my father or winter would be able to see the change. But for the most part it was still the Schnee family tattoo. Only now some of the pieces weren't the pale ghostly blue, instead a bright vibrant red took over some of the crucial parts. Before the blue signified the resurrection of a dead being. But my red parts allowed the living to be influenced, not as a mindless slave but as an equal partner in battle.

By the time Ruby completed the last marking. I felt exhausted. It was close to three in the morning, and the day felt extra-long because of the rude awakening I had. As my aura healed the tattoo, I couldn't even manage to pull on my shirt, I just closed my eyes and sleep took me.

* * *

[Ruby pov]

Weiss' tattoo was really difficult. The marking that were used, were confusing to look at. It was like they moved away as you looked at them. Eventually my brain split its attention, one part focused on moving my hand, the other made sure I was copying the new design correctly. The old runes and symbols felt as if they were moving away from the tattoo gun, as if resisting any change, I tried to force on them. If I were to think about it, I would probably throw up from the creepiness of it all.

Once I completed all of the new markings, I noticed Weiss' back shift. Where some of the two colors touched, they combined. New symbols formed out of the overlap, these new marks had a faint purple color to them. But as soon as I saw them, they seemed to sink under Weiss' skin. 'that's weird' I thought. I looked at Weiss, she was already asleep. I pulled down her shirt so her back was no longer exposed, and I carefully shifted her over onto the sleeping bag I brought for her. Tucking her in, I went back to clean all of her tattoo equipment. It didn't take long, it was only four by the time I went to bed 'yay, only three hours of sleep' I thought, knowing tomorrow was going to come far too fast.

Morning came like a slap to the face. My scrolls alarm went off and woke Weiss up, I was already falling back asleep when she forced me up. "Wake up you Dolt. Today is the day you make up with your sister" she said. I groaned out my unwillingness to move. Weiss didn't like my sleepiness. "YYEOOWWW!" I yelled and leaped into the air, a sharp stabbing pain coming from my butt. "Weiss!" I yelled at her, she was holding her weapon. "relax, you aren't even bleeding. Now that you're up, let's go" she said, twirling around and walking out, still holding her rapier.

"Soooo, Weiss? Why are you holding your sword as if something is going to attack any moment?" I asked the nervous looking form carefully walking next to me. "because, I'm still unsure if I'm safe from your sister" she said, as if it were obvious. But her words only made me angry again. This is why I was mad at Yang, she created a wall between our team. Yang didn't think what she did was wrong, and she refused to accept her actions as toxic to our team dynamic. But seeing Weiss afraid, that is what made me truly angry. It triggered something deep within me, a feeling of protectiveness that I've never felt before. 'calm down Ruby, you promised to make up' I said to myself, trying to calm myself down enough to face Yang without yelling again.

We made it to our door without incident. Weiss stood behind me, not enough to look like she was hiding, but enough to hid if something comes out to attack. I opened the door without hesitation, wanting to get this over with. Walking inside I saw something I didn't expect. "Yang? Blake? What are you two doing?" I asked the sleeping girls. My voice awoke Yang with a jolt. "-by. Ruby?" Yang said, looking around in a sleepy haze. Yang started to sit up and the blanket covering her began to slip away. For the briefest of moments, I thought I saw Yang topless 'Gross', but Weiss' hands slapped over my eyes. I heard a soft curse from Blake, before a heavy thud hit the floor, followed by hurried footsteps and the sound of the bathroom door being slammed.

Weiss removed her hands. I looked around and didn't see Blake. 'she must have gone into the bathroom' I thought. I looked back at Weiss, she was looking at the floor and her face was almost glowing from redness. "Ruby, where have you been?" the now dressed Yang asked, sounding both nervous and upset. "that's not important right now. I have something to say" I sounded colder than I intended, but I didn't want Yang to think I've forgiven her yet. Yang just nodded and sat down on Blake's bed, Weiss, and sat on the former's. We both sat in silence, Yang and I were both stubborn, chances are neither of us would talk first, wanting the other to speak. Weiss got impatient, I felt her pinch my elbow really hard "Fine, Yang I'm sorry for making you worry. I'm sorry for getting angry at you. But I need you to understand why" I said, I meant it all too.

"I guess it's my turn. Weiss" I felt Weiss shift closer to me at Yang's words. "I'm not exactly sorry for what I did, the warning still stands, but. I am sorry about the way I delivered that warning. Blake talked me through my mistake" Yang said. Weiss was about to say something, but I wanted Yang to keep going, she hadn't gotten to her real apology yet, so I squeezed Weiss' hand and silenced her upcoming words. "Ruby" Yang's voice softened "I've thought about what you said during lunch yesterday. You were right, it was the wrong way to handle that, I fully felt the divide it caused. I'll allowed my anger to cloud my judgment. I'm so sorry sis" Yang said, sincerity being shown in her voice.

I heard what I wanted, so I released Weiss' hand and tackled Yang into a hug on Blake's bed. I felt dampness on my hand as I hugged Yang "Why is Blake's bed wet?" I asked, it was strange and I was confused. Yang's face froze at my question. "Ruby! Let's go get breakfast, your dinner last night wasn't very filling" Weiss said in a hurried, panicked voice. "Okay!" I said, happy about spending more time with Weiss. I raced out of the room ahead of Weiss, but I heard Yang say "Thank you" to Weiss. 'weird, there must be something going on' I thought, but ran to breakfast and took my mind off of it.


	8. Chapter 8 new friends

(chapter 8: new friends, and new tattoos) [Ruby pov]

It has been two months since this school year began. Which means combat classes are beginning today. Once a week every student is grouped by grade, and are randomly chosen to battle another randomly chosen student. It's the first time we can show off our skill in both Tattoo, and weapon ability. I was excited about watching how other people used their tattoos. I've read about a lot of tattoos, but now I can see them in reality and learn how they work.

"Weiss! Weiss! Weiss! Are you excited about today!?" I asked, jumping in place with every word. "Yes you Dunce, I'm the one who reminded you about today. Remember?" Weiss said, but her slight smile made me understand her excitement under her annoyance. "oh, Right. So, do you think we'll be chosen to fight today?" I asked. Blake stepped into our conversation. We were all getting ready in our room, and Blake walked out of the bathroom as I spoke. "I don't think there's high chance of us being chosen. Only two fights take place in a day. But I'm sure it'll be an interesting fight regardless" Blake said, securely tying her bow. 'she always has that. I wonder if it holds special meaning to her. Like my cape' I thought to myself.

Once Yang finished getting ready, she takes the longest out of all of us. We walked down to the combat arena. On combat days, we were allowed to wear out own outfits. The school uniforms weren't as useful for combat, and sometimes restricted the use of certain tattoos. Flying tattoos were prohibited during the normal school day, today was the only exception. Looking up I saw two boys my age flying towards the arena. One had ghostly red wings on his back. He also had a heavy amount of armor, with a Phoenix emblazoned on his chest. The other had sky blue wings, almost invisibly while he was in the air but once he landed it stood out plain as day.

"those are so awesome!" I said, obviously talking about the two wing tattoos. "too bad the two that have them are the school's biggest bully's" Yang said, clenching her fist in anger. Blake put her hand on Yang's shoulder, "Guys like those, always get what's coming to them. Don't let them get in your head" Blake said soothingly. 'Knowing Yang, she'll probably rush over and fight them anyways' I thought amused. But to my surprise, Yang gave Blake a friendly smile, and kept walking side by side with Blake. 'What the heck!' I stared in shock at the unbelievable scene I just witnessed.

Weiss noticed my shocked look, "What's the matter Ruby?" she asked. "What's going on between Yang and Blake. She actually made Yang calm down. With a single touch!" I said, utterly confused. Weiss looked at the pair, walking farther away as we both stood and talked. "uumm…" Weiss trailed off, her face turning a mysterious shade of red. I was still confused, but I soon remembered where we were walking too. "Whatever, we'll think about it later, now let's go watch some battling!" I said, grabbing Weiss' hand and running to the arena.

Glynda was the combat instructor for all students. She explained the rules for tournament style fighting. She said that we should all take these classes seriously. She also mentioned that we would be allowed out into town, to buy equipment and supplies for training. That was a mistake on her part, no one paid any attention to the class after her announcement. Everyone was buzzing and talking about going into town. Everyone was so busy talking amongst themselves, that they didn't even notice a blond boy get defeated by one of the boys with wings.

After the second fight, Me and Weiss started walking to the ship docks. "So Weiss, where are Blake and Yang?" I asked. I figured we'd all go to town together. "I'm not sure. But I'm sure they'll call if they want to meet up. now come on, let's head to town" Weiss said, smiling a little at the end. Her smile only lasted a moment, a moment so short you could say it didn't happen. But I saw it, and it filled me with a warmth I didn't understand 'so this is what friendship feels like. It feels good' I thought, it's a feeling I've been getting a lot these past few months. I've never had a best friend before, just being near Weiss made me feel better. "let's go have fun" I said, grabbing Weiss' hand and pulling us onto a ship.

* * *

[Weiss pov]

We rode the small cramped airship into the town of Vale. Ruby and I were jammed, along with what had to be half the school, in the smallest ship they had. Ruby held my hand the entire ride, I think she forgot she grabbed it when we first got on. Not that I hated it, in fact I liked the felling of her soft warm fingers interlocked whit my own. It felt natural, like we were meant to hold hands. But those thoughts were ridiculous, Ruby was my friend, this was all new to me. So it makes sense I would enjoy our closeness, it showed just how good of friends we are.

As soon as we landed, I put my plan into motion. I wanted to watch and study the few students who are arriving today from the other schools. But I didn't want Ruby to know that was my main goal, I was just as happy being able to spend time with my friend outside of school. It was one of the few times we could leave campus and not focus on buying something. It was a day to just relax and talk, and I wanted to do that with Ruby, but first I had to see what I could learn from the few arriving students.

"you seem excited today Weiss" Ruby said as we walked towards the docks. 'I do?' I wondered. "I mean, I never see you smile this much, or walk this quickly." Ruby continued to add. I looked down at my feet, they were moving faster than I would normally walk. Searching my face with my hand, I felt my lips curved up in a smile I didn't know I could show. "I-I guess I am. But today is an exciting day" I said, explaining my feelings. Ruby seemed to brighten even more from my statement. "Yeah, we get to see all the decorations for the Vital festival, and taste all the unique food" Ruby said I a breathy dream-like tone.

"yes. That does sound nice. But first we must act as proper students of beacon, and greet the arriving students from the other kingdoms" I said, concealing my eagerness to get information about the future battle competitor's. "are you sure you don't just want to spy on them?" a voice said from behind me. Turning around I was face to face with Blake and Yang, Blake was the one who said aloud my plans. I had to think fast, I didn't prepare for anyone guessing my plan, "o-of course not. I'm just being a proper representative of Beacon academy. Nothing more" I said, but I knew Blake could see through me, she always seemed to be able too. "Well, what are we waiting for, let's go" Yang said, smashing her fist into her palm.

We found ourselves standing on an overhanging cliff, looking out towards the shipping docks. But instead of waiting for students to arrive, something unusual caught our attention. The front facade of a local tattoo shop had been destroyed, the police had taped everything off, and were interviewing an old man who appeared to work at the shop, guessing by his shirt that said the name of the store "From Dust till Dawn" Ruby must have thought it was more important than my plan, and guided us to the police men standing outside of the destroyed the shop.

"What happened?" Ruby questioned the man. She seemed determined to find out what's going on. The officer turned away from his partner and looked at Ruby, seeing her as a curious girl he decided to answer. "a group of guys robbed this place, then trashed it so it would stay closed" the man said. His partner added "but the strange part, none of the money was taken, like the other five stores, only the dust was stolen" the first man added even more information. "what could they need all that Dust for?" the second man scoffed at his buddy "they're the White Fang, who knows what those monsters want, whatever it is, it can't be good"

'Great. Not only do they terrorize me at home, but they follow me here and cause this kind of mischief' I thought. The White Fang was a radical group of Faunus that believe the Faunus are a superior race, and as such, should be the ones with all the power. They used my father's business ideals as a stepping stone to recruit and radicalize more Faunus. Borderline slavery tends to anger people, and the White Fang are a conduit for that anger. My voice said what my mind was thinking "can you believe those scum, attacking and robbing, just to steal some Dust" I said, but I knew it was the wrong thing to say when I heard the silence from my teammates

Yang was unsure about my words, she sort of agreed with me, but the look on her face said she wasn't happy about how I said it. Ruby was even more saddened by my words, her face showed how much my words hurt. Seeing Ruby look at me like that hurt, it felt like I was sinking to the bottom of an ocean of oil, the suffocating feeling of Ruby not wanting to be seen with me, it was too much to bear. I had to look away, my heart couldn't take the pain any longer. But Blake was the only person left, and she looked downright angry. She looked ready to explode at me.

"What is your problem, they're just fighting for what they believe in. is that such a problem for the Ice Queen. Can't stand to see someone else get their way?" Blake said, anger showing for the first time. 'What? That's not how I meant it at all. There terrorists! I don't have to explain myself to you' I thought "I don't have to explain myself, they are scum. The White Fang are a group of degenerates and should be dealt with accordingly" I said, and I turned away and walked back to the place that overlooked the docks. I didn't care if they followed me, I really didn't want to discuss it any further. 'Ruby' my mind told me. The look on her face was burned onto my heart. A slow but constant ache pounded with every beat of my heart.

After some waiting, the ships finally arrived. Only a few students were allowed to show up so early. The Vital festival was two months away, but certain special students were permitted to arrive and attend Beacons classes, and learn more about our kingdom. Most of the arriving students just wandered around, or got into cars and headed to beacon, most likely to sleep. But one stood out. An open shirt, blond haired boy jumped off a cargo ship, and was chased down the docks by security officers. The two men chasing him yelled "stop you!" and "no good stowaway!" but the boy was much faster and was much more nimble. Jumping from light pole to light pole, he outran the men and shot past us in a blur of blond hair.

As he ran past, his tail whipped around and hooked a light pole right above us. Giving a flirtatious wink to Blake, he did a back flip and landed on the ground. But the officers caught up by then and were just about to catch him. So the blond haired boy took off running, and got away. "well Weiss, you wanted to spy on the other competitors, there one of them goes" Yang said. 'really? Him?' I thought. "let's go observe him!" I called, half wanting to see his ability, but also to make sure he wasn't going to do anything illegal. So I took off running, hearing the footsteps of my teammates behind my own.

The boy and the officers rounded a corner, and I sped up so I didn't lose sight of them. but as I rounded the corner myself, someone was standing directly in my path. "guuaahh!" I yelled out as me and this new girl fell to the ground. I looked up and watched as the boy I was following jumped and scaled a small building, losing the officers in the process. "noo! I almost had him" I called out. "umm. Weiss" Yang's voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked back at her, she was pointing at me. Wait, not at me, below me. Looking down, I realized the person I ran into was still laying down under me. I jumped up and next to Yang, but the person continued to stay on the ground.

Yang broke the awkward situation "are you alright?" she asked the orange haired girl. "oh, I am wonderful" the strange girl said. But still made no move to get up. "do you need help getting up?" Yang asked, it was a straight forward question. The girl paused and thought about the question, but finally said "no" and did a kung-fu flip into a standing position. "salutations! my name is Penny, it is a pleasure to meet you" penny said in a chipper voice. Ruby seemed happy to meet someone "uh hi, my name's Ruby" Ruby gave a small wave. "Blake" was all Blake said to Penny. I greeted as well "I apologize for knocking you down, my name is Weiss" I didn't want to give my last name, people tend to act weird when I tell them. "are you sure you didn't hit you head" Yang said quietly but a little too loud, Blake elbowed her. "I mean, my name is Yang, it's nice to meet you"

"Sensational, it is so wonderful to meet you" Penny gave a bright, happy smile. But I wanted to continue and track the Faunus boy from a moment ago. Did you see where that Faunus went?" I asked Penny. Penny tilted her head and looked at me like I grew a second head. "why do you have to say it that way?" Blake yelled at me. "What?" I asked, turning to Blake 'what does she mean by that?' I wondered. "why do you have to say it like it's a problem being a Faunus?" Blake asked. "I never said such a thing, I only think the White Fang are the problem. Those are the real monsters" I said, getting frustrated by her misunderstanding me.

"you're such an insensitive brat. Who are you to judge others on what they do" Blake yelled. Her words cut deep, she was of course talking about my father's company, and its shady business practice of "hiring" Faunus as workers. "I do no such thing, I'm the victim here!" I yelled, my anger overflowing, Blake had no right, she didn't know my life, she didn't understand my suffering. I turned and walked away. Ruby wanted to follow me, but Penny was still standing there. "See ya, friend" Ruby waved by Penny and jogged up to me.

A green blur appeared in front of us "what did you just call me?" Penny said in what I thought was the most fear inducing voice I've ever heard. I trembled, the memory of Yang that morning those months ago came back. "look i-I'm sorry for whatever I said" I trailed off in a mumbling fit. "no not you" Penny waved me off, her voice returning somewhat normal. "You" she said, walking past me and looked right into Ruby's eyes. "i-uh, I don't know" Ruby stuttered. I didn't blame her, the situation was confusing and I was completely lost, my anger at Blake was almost completely forgotten, it looked like it was gone from her too. Blake moved closer to me, along with Yang. We were all ready to jump in and save our leader if things got out of hand.

"you called me 'friend' are we really friends?" Penny said. The enthusiasm of a child showing in her voice. Ruby had a panicked look, she peered over Penny's shoulder at us. We desperately waved our arms trying to tell her "NO!" but it was lost on Ruby. "Sure?" Ruby said. The young leader was too nice to deny someone friendship. "Sensational! A Friend. We can exchange numbers, and have sleepovers, paint our nails. Oh, oh and talk about cute boys!" Penny rambled on. But her ideas seemed like the things people in tv shows or in books did. They didn't seem like the stuff actual people did. 'but what do I know, I've literally only had one friend, and only for three months' I said to myself.

"that sounds like a great idea, but we have to get back to school. But I'll definitely see you later" Ruby said to Penny. The orange haired girl jumped for joy at the thought "oh this is spectacular. I will be looking forward to our next meeting Ruby" Penny said. Ruby just nodded and slowly walked back up to us. "you guys ready to go?" she asked. We all nodded and walked our way through the city, me and Blake not standing within direct sight of each other. Avoiding the enviable argument waiting for us.

* * *

[Blake pov]

Getting back to the team room was surprisingly without incident, Weiss stayed with Ruby, and Yang kept me distracted for the most part. Yang had been acting weird ever since we slept together, it was a moment of weakness, me giving into her beauty and not thinking about how it would affect our partner dynamic. It wasn't a mistake, not by a long shot. I was still filled with a warm felling whenever I looked back upon it. Yang however didn't treat it the same, I felt she thought it was some sort of stress reliever, like I was only using her to sate my lust. I didn't know how to bring up my feelings to her, I keep so many secrets from her already, adding my growing love for her was just another piece to my life puzzle.

I was a Faunus. To be more exact, I was a cat Faunus. I had entered this school with the intention of hiding my true self. But I knew it was only a matter of time before my teammates found out. I was concerned about having Weiss on the same team as me, but to my surprise she has shown a remarkable ability to show kindness to Faunus, helping them when some are bullied at this school, or teaching a few the class lessons. It was something I never expected a Schnee to do.

But today the comments about the White Fang worried me, the group was once peaceful. It was that way for the longest time, but that all changed (when the fire nation attacked) when new leaders stepped into power. That changed the once peaceful group, into what is now feared and hated. It was my fear of not being accepted by my team that made me argue with Weiss. I knew if she had those feelings, I could never be accepted by her or Yang. Ruby seemed innocent about the world, but Weiss was the deciding factor for our team. If she turned me away, it was only a matter of time before everyone turned me away too.

So here I am, sitting on my bed trying not to give in to my anger and slap Weiss. "I can't believe you are still able to defend those animals!" Weiss said, she had gotten much less descriptive about the White Fang. "what would you do, I you were constantly stepped on, if all of society looked at you like monsters. Do you really blame them!?" I argued back, our conversation had started back up, but the silence after my last statement was unusual. Movement out of the corner of my eye caused me to look over at Ruby. Ruby had taken a step towards Weiss, a look of sympathy and understanding covering her face. But Weiss held out her hand sending the message of halting to the young girl.

"do you know why I hate them, the White fang?" Weiss started, her tone shifted from the argumentative heat, into this cold dead tone. As if a great weight was being presented by these words. "I hate the White Fang because the pain they added to my childhood" Weiss said. I didn't know what to say, we were arguing so any words of comfort would only be taken in a bad way. 'did she say added? What does she mean?' I thought. Weiss continued "I was attacked almost every time I left my father's house. So no, I will not treat those monsters as anything but what they are. The moments were I could escape, and live a normal life were stripped away from me by them"

'that's it? Really? The White Fang disrupted the princesses "free time" and she ridicules and belittles them for that. How dare this spoiled rotten brat!' I thought angrily "well maybe if people like you didn't treat them like dirt, maybe if people treated us like we mattered there wouldn't need to be a group fighting for equality!" my emotions overwhelmed me, her shellfish remark took me over the edge.

The room was silent, an unnerving silence that caused me to look at everyone. The way Yang and Ruby's eyes looked back at me caused me to go over what I just said. 'I said "We" when talking about the Faunus' I realized. My fear of being rejected took over, I knew they would outcast me, so to save myself the pain I ran. I always run, it was the only defense I could rely on. So I used my tattoos and vanished from sight, slipping out the open window into the moonless night.

* * *

[Ruby pov]

I reacted fast, my feet already buzzing with the power of my tattoos. But Yang's powerful hand grabbed my shoulder. "give her space Ruby. She needs time to put things in order. We will go out and finder her tomorrow" Yang said. The feeling in my legs started to go away, the tattoos felt like they were complaining about not being used. "W-What did she mean "we"" Weiss said, her voice sounding hurt and confused. "don't worry about it Ice Queen, we'll deal with it tomorrow. For now, go to bed, get some sleep" Yang said, acting like the big sister to the both of us. I got changed and laid down in bed, but sleep didn't come and before I knew it, the sun was peeking over the horizon

I pulled myself out of bed to shower and get ready to go out looking. "you couldn't sleep either?" Yang asked me, her voice sounding as tired as I felt. "I was worried. I don't want our team to be split" I said as I gathered up a change of street clothing. "me too" Yang sounded deep in thought, but those two words carried a deep emotion I couldn't understand. I walked over and gave my sister a hug. We held each other in a tight embrace, giving each other the strength to get through today.

Weiss was the last to wake up, me and Yang were already dressed and looking at places where Blake would be. Of course we had no idea, but it was something to focus on. "why do you two look so serious?" Weiss asked. Yang looked up from her Scroll, "because we're going out today and bringing Blake home, and you're helping us" Yang said, with no room for argument. Feeling the seriousness of Yang, Weiss got dressed and we all headed to town.

Once we arrived to town, Yang told us to split up and call each other if we found Blake. I went to the center most area of the town of Vale. The communication tower, it's a tall spear that rises higher than all the other buildings in Vale. It's used for communicating between the other three kingdoms. As I was absent mind-idly walking, I bumped into someone. "ohmyoum! I'm so sorry" I hastily said to the person.

"Friend Ruby? Is that you?" the person who I ran into said. "Penny?" I asked as I looked down at Penny. "Salutations! It's great to see you again so soon friend" Penny said, this time getting up without me or anyone saying to. 'it's like she's learning the more she experiences the world' I thought about her. "what are you doing here Ruby?" Penny asked, a childlike need to know things was how she sounded. "Ah, well. My friend Blake is missing, and I'm looking for her" I explained. Penny gasped "you mean your Faunus Friend? That's awful" Penny said. "Wait, What? How did you know she was…" I wondered aloud.

"the cat ears" Penny said, like it was plainly obvious. "but she always wore a…bow" I realized it all right in that moment. 'no wonder she always had that on, she was hiding. She was hiding from everything' I thought. I felt a new feeling of sympathy for my friend. A friend I didn't really know anything about. "I will help you find her, I won't rest until she is returned home" Penny announced, grabbing me in a hug. She was surprisingly strong, she lifted me and Crescent Rose, who was strapped to my back. "thanks Penny" I said, used to talking while being hugged to death

So we set of. Walking aimlessly through the city, Penny decided this would be the perfect opportunity to talk about friendship. "So Blake is your friend?" Penny sounded happy to be talking. "Yes". "are you mad she ran away?". "yes". "is Weiss friends with Blake?" Penny's question caused me to pause. "I hope so, that's kind of up in the air right now" I answered, worried about the future of my team. "well I don't have many friends. But if I did, I would want them to talk to me about problems, rather than run away" Penny said, sounding oddly wise in that moment.

We walked in a grid-like pattern for what felt like hours. I was getting tired, and the lack of sleep made a sudden wave of exhaustion hit me after the sun went down. "Penny, I think we'll have to call it a day. I have school tomorrow" I said, but I didn't really mean it. I was going to stay out here until I found Blake, but I wanted to give Penny an excuse to leave, she didn't have to stay out here with me all night. "that's okay friend Ruby. Blake is your friend, so I, as your friend will help you. No matter how long it takes" Penny still had her cheery attitude. 'how can she still have this much energy?' I thought. Suddenly the ground rumbled and I heard an explosion from the direction of the docks. "we better go check that out" I said, worried people got hurt by the explosion.

* * *

[Blake pov] (earlier that evening)

I slept like I have for many of the nights in my life, in an abandoned warehouse. It brought me sense of both home, and disgust. It was the life I was away from. I was making a new life for myself as a huntress. But now that I was found out, my teammates wouldn't want me around. I might as well go back to fending for myself.

Morning came, I wanted to get out of the city as fast as possible. The only option was to be a stowaway. Buying an airship ticket, or a train ticket would allow people to find me, and I wanted to disappear. But my plan had a small hiccup. The Schnee Dust company took over the docks the night before, a large shipment of dust arrived and was waiting to be shipped around Vale. Seeing as I was in for a wait, I stuck around the docks, not wanting to wander the town.

Hours passed, I had to discreetly buy some food after some time, my stomach was protesting loudly at my lack of breakfast. The day crawled along slowly after that, I was dreading not grabbing any books. I wanted something to do while I waited. By the time night fell, I was just about at my limit for waiting. I was laying on top of a cargo box, out of sight from any workers that happened to look up.

The sound of an airship suddenly filled the air above me. 'Airships aren't allowed to fly so low, and what would one be doing over the docks?' I thought to myself. it was a mysterious situation I was in the middle of. The airship landed and my worst fear came to light, five White Fang men walked of the ship and begun tying up the Schnee cargo boxes. 'so it is the White Fang who are stealing Dust all around the city. Those police officers were right' I thought, confused as to why the White Fang needed Dust.

"Let's go people, we gotta get a move on" a man yelled, as he stepped off the airship. The man was wearing an all-white suit, with a bowler hat. His cane caused me to realize who he was. he was in almost every news cast lately. Roman Torchwick. 'why would the White Fang be working with a human, and a lowlife like Roman too' I wondered, but my anger for it pushed me to action.

Jumping down, I hastily ran up behind Roman, taking my sword and placing it to his neck. "you've got to be kidding me" Roman said, as if his life wasn't in danger. At his words, the White Fang members all turned and pointed their weapons to me and Roman. 'this is ridiculous, he is your enemy, why would you work with him' I thought in anger and confusion. I pulled of my bow, reviling my cat ears, the purple appendages wiggled from their sudden freedom. "Brothers of the White Fang, why are you siding with a human. He is your enemy! Not your ally" I said, using the new twisted values of the White Fang against them. they hated humans, seeing themselves as the superior race, I left wanting equality, not superiority.

The five men started to drop their weapons, showing me I had at least made them question the partnership they had with Roman. "didn't you hear, me and the Fang have an agreement" roman said, then a blast from his cane blew me twenty feet away. Recovering I rolled and landed, holding my sword sheath as a minor shield. The White Fang men didn't act, Roman gave a quick shout and they got back to work tying up the cargo. I activated my tattoos and disappeared into the shadow casted by the towering boxes.

"you can't hide forever little girl, but it doesn't matter" he paused and looked to the night sky "ahh, looks like my ride has arrived" as he spoke, two more airships flew in, the one he arrived in took flight. All three attached cables to the boxes and started to hoist them up. 'I need to stop this, I can't let him get away with all that dust' I thought, knowing the danger that amount of dust can be.

Swords, several swords flew through the air, sticking into the hull of the airship that Roman was about to jump on. I looked over to the other end of the docks. Two short girls stood there at the top of a tower of boxes. I recognized them, it was Ruby and Penny. Penny made a motion like she was grabbing a heavy rope then pulled with great force. The airship that had swords started to sway, it was fighting Penny's pull. But Penny quickly won, pulling the ship to the ground and hitting another ship along the way. The White Fang panicked and all jumped on the last remaining ship, releasing the box it carried. Roman gave the two girls a final look, then jumped on the ship and it flew away.

I walked up to Ruby, releasing the tattoos and showing myself. "Blake!" Ruby yelled, then ran into me bringing me to the floor as she collided with my middle. "I was so worried. Where have you been?" Ruby said, honest emotion pouring out from her. 'she was worried? About me?' I thought, not expecting any of this. "you have been looking for me? But I thought you all would-" I was interrupted by Ruby "of course we were looking, you are our teammate, and you are our friend. Don't think just because you're a Faunus we'll hate you. You're family" Ruby said. I didn't know what to say. 'I've never had someone call me family before' I thought.

After Ruby made a call, Yang showed up, seemingly out of breath and sweaty. "Blake!" was all she gasped out, then pulled me into a hug. I felt my heart do a series of complicated acrobatic maneuvers at Yang's closeness. But nothing more was said between us, just a recognition of our togetherness. But the worst wasn't over, Ruby and Yang showed me I wasn't without people who supported me, who didn't care I was a Faunus. But Weiss was the one, the one who had the power to drive me away.

Once the white haired heiress arrived, shortly fallowed by the police, she walked right up to me. "you know. I've had a long day. Running around this city has given me lots of time to think" Weiss started. I grew nervous "and I have a few questions for you" I nodded, I owed her that much. "you are a Faunus? Right?" she asked first. I took of my bow, I had re-tied it when Yang arrived. All eyes were now focused on my ears, but that made me notice something, Penny was gone "Ruby? Where's Penny?" I asked, dodging Yang's attempt to touch my ear

Ruby looked around, confusion marking her face "she was here a moment ago" she said, seeming sad at her missing friend. Weiss coughed, getting our attention again "first, those are the cutest things ever" she said, in a series voice that didn't match her words "my next question. Are you a member of the White Fang?" Weiss asked. "not any more" I answered honestly. Not seeing the point in lying now. "then let's go home, we have classes in the morning" Weiss said, then walked off, pulling Ruby by the hood of her cloak. "that's it?" I asked, blown away by her acceptance. "yep!" Weiss shouted.

* * *

hello everybody, i just wanted to say thank you. thank you everyone who has taken the time out of their day and read my story. i appreciate every single one of you. i hope my story helps you get over the depression of the volume 3 ending. as far as that goes, my story by then will go a little differently. i just wanted to take a moment to talk with you all. i really enjoy the world of tattoo magic, and bringing it to the world of RWBY is a fun and exciting experience. i would love to hear about all of your ideas, ideas about tattoos. about their powers, or about their looks. i have ideas for tattoos already, but if i see something better i would be more than happy to change my story to fit the new idea.

thank you again, Zodd


	9. Chapter 9 trouble with the White Fang 1

[Ruby pov] (chapter 9)

It has been two weeks since Blake ran away, and Me and Penny stopped a massive robbery of dust. The robber, Roman ended up getting away but we scored a small win for the local dust/tattoo shops in town. Unfortunately, almost every shop in town is close to closing down from lack of supplies and constant robberies from Roman and the White Fang.

Blake hasn't been taking the recent discoveries about her old group well. She is constantly focused on gathering new information about Roman and the activity of the White Fang. She scarcely spends time in our room, sleeping in the library after going 20 solid hours of research. Its unhealthy. Yang is always trying to force food into her and make her sleep. Because of the time Yang spends with Blake, it leaves Weiss and I alone, a lot.

To say I was bored would be an understatement. We were on spring break for this last week, but my team and I didn't go anywhere, or even leave the school. Yang said going back to Vale so soon would only feed Blake's obsession more. So we sat in school, training until our body's fell apart, and Weiss teaching me all sorts of tattoos and legends. I enjoyed it, but one can only stay cooped up for so long.

I managed to convince Yang to drag Blake to lunch. Weiss was willing to go along with me regardless, so we both made our way to the cafeteria. Sitting down at our own table I prepared my speech. "Ladies! Family! Friends! Weiss!" I started, my mind growing excited. "today is a great day. A day to kick off the start of the next semester with a bang" I say, then take the binder I've been working on out and slam it on the table. It contains all the hottest spots in the area, and all the upcoming events in and around Vale.

"I don't know about you girls, but I always kick my semesters off with a Yang" my sister said, the pun draining all the joy from the room. "that was terrible!" I say to Yang, picking up a tomato to boo her like in old movies. I throw the fruit and hit Yang in the chin, causing a red splat to form on my sister. She responded almost immodestly, picking up whatever food she could grab first. By the divine power of the comedy gods she picked up a pie and threw it at me. But I was fast and ducked under it and the pie flew right on to the person at the table across from us.

"this is an act of war!" Nora yells from across the room. As if the room knew Nora's power, everyone fled leaving the eight of us to battle. The excitement of the moment gets to me "team RWBY vs team JNPR!" I yell out. We all run to separate sides of the room, preparing our battle plans. I watched in awe as Pyrrha touched a metal table, then the table floated up and stacked itself on the tower she was building. 'that could be bad for us' I thought in worry.

"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!" Nora called out, standing on top of the tower Pyrrha built. Then jumped down saying "off with their heads" and threw a table along with the watermelons piled on top of it. "Yang! Turkeys!" I yell. Yang did a flip and shoved her hands into two turkeys, using them as makeshift gauntlets. Running forward, Yang punched the airborne melons, causing small expansions of juice to splash all around.

I looked over to Blake, she seemed interested in the stress relief. I nodded to her, and in a blur she ran and leaped over Yang. Grabbing two loafs of bread, wielding them like swords. Yang punched off her turkeys, firing them at Pyrrha. Pyrrha effortlessly moved out of the way, leaving Jaune to take the turkeys right to the face. Blake ran swinging her bread, but was met with Pyrrhas bread blade. They were both locked in a heated staring contest, but Blake broke away, using her two bread advantage and batted away Pyrrha. Pyrrha didn't let up, she expertly countered Blake's technique and disarmed Blake. Pyrrha used her beard and flung Blake into the air, then jammed her bread into Blake's gut, sending her flying backwards. Pyrrha picked up Blake's dropped bread, then hurled it like a javelin, at Yang. Yang was hit and flew back, landing next to Blake.

I made my move, I grabbed a food tray and leaped over some flying food. Pyrrha threw something at me, but in a fluid movement I swatted it back at her. She was distracted enough for me to slam into her, knocking her back and into the soda vending machines. The machines spilled all its contents and Pyrrha fell, taken out for the time being.

My joy at taking out Pyrrha was my downfall. Nora and her brute strength, caught me off guard. Punching the tray I was surfing on, she sent me flying. Weiss managed to catch me, and used that momentum to thrust me back into the fray. While I was flying again, Weiss took a ketchup bottle and covered the path in front of our oncoming foes. I was overhead forcing them to look up at me, so when they stepped into the tomato-y floor both Jaune and Ren were sent sliding into a pile of tables.

I skidded to a stop and was forced running again. Nora had made her final move. Wielding a metal pole with a watermelon acting as its hammerhead, she ran at my sister. Yang didn't stand a chance, Nora's power sent my sister flying through the roof and out of the battle field. But the reason I was running was Weiss. Nora was heading straight to Weiss, preparing a massive swing. I got there right as Weiss was hit, sending my partner into and destroying a concrete pillar.

I caught her before the pillar collapsed on top of her. Pain swelled up at the unconscious girl in my arms. "Weiss? Weiss! Don't leave me!" I yelled out, in real pain. But the drama of the moment made it seem like over acting. "I looked into the Eyes of Pyrrha, she had just woken from my attack. Looking around, she saw the pile of soda cans and the puddle of soda she was laying in. I watched as her palms glowed with the sign of tattoo magic. then she smacked the ground. The cans that were in the puddle started to float. 'tactile magnetism!' I thought, she used the puddle as a conduit to spread her power to all of the cans, instead of touching them individually. I read about her power, she was a champion fighter so her powers are available to read up on, but the specifies are confidential. She needed to touch whatever she wanted to manipulate, but was limited to only touching one thing at a time, but clearly she can work around that weakness.

Before I had time to think, Pyrrha sent the cans flying towards me. I ran. Ran with the full power of my tattoos. It was a thrilling experience, to feel at one with the air. I made it half way across the cafeteria then leaped over a pile of tables. While in the air I didn't let my momentum go to waste, I spun in the air. Turning myself into a spear, the perfect projectile to cause a whirlwind to form behind me. I couldn't see Pyrrha's face, but I imagined a look of fear at the sight of all her projectiles being turned back at her.

The moment I reached the other end of the room, I stopped. Grinning at the massive amount of food and soda flying right at me, and Team JNPR. I quickly sped away, going around the oncoming danger. When I was back with Weiss, I shook her slightly to wake her up. just as her eyes opened, I pointed to the opposite wall. She giggled slightly at the sight of team JNPR completely covered in food and soda. The food fight was over and we won. But just as I was about to say so, the doors flew open.

Glynda strode in, waving her riding crop and using her tattoos to levitate and clean the room. Within seconds the cafeteria looked just as it did before our fight. "children. Please, don't play with your food" she said. 'did? Did she just make a joke?' I thought, blown away by this new version of Glynda before us. But my attention was broken by my screaming sister falling through the roof, finally landing from Nora's hit earlier. We all exploded into laughter, both my team and team JNPR.

As a minor punishment, we were all sent to the library to study. But it was still spring break, so we all ended up playing a board game and reading comics. Blake left early, saying she was tired and wanted to nap. Yang didn't seem willing to play anymore, she left soon after Blake. I didn't know what to do anymore, Weiss was happy to study. But I wanted to go out and experience the town on our final day of break.

Once I finally got Weiss to leave the library, we went back to our room to check up on Blake and Yang. When we arrived Blake was up and dressed in her combat outfit. "what's going on?" I asked, looking back and forth between Blake and Yang. The mood in the room shifted at my question. Yang and Blake were having a silent argument, I think Yang won because Blake eventually sighed and faced Weiss and I.

"I can't take it anymore. All of this waiting, it's driving me insane. I need to find the reason the White Fang needs all of that dust. I can't just let Ozpin handle it alone" Blake said. I knew it was bothering her, but I didn't know it was getting to her this much. But she is my teammate, and I can't let her do this alone. "fine" I say, "but we're going with you. I will not allow you to do this alone" I say, not allowing room for argument.

Weiss argues anyways "Are you insane? This is a matter for the police. Not a bunch of kids. Just look out the window, General Ironwood brought in a fleet of airships. I think the situation is under control" Weiss said, making many good points. The airships flew in late yesterday, the public statement was, the ships were just to escort the students coming from the kingdom of Atlas. It was a legitimate situation, the Hunters school there was also the Military's school. So traveling to the tournament together was seemingly normal. However, the resent robberies and the fear of the White Fang tells a different story.

"Weiss, this matters to Blake. I'm not saying well stop them, I'm just suggesting we gather some information. It could help the police" I say, pleading with Weiss. She seemed hesitant, but eventually agreed with me saying "alright, but this is only to get answers. Nothing more" she punctuated that last part by pointing at Blake. Blake nodded, a smile formed on her face at the help and acceptance of us.

"Alright, who's ready to take down a super evil, super corrupt man leading an organization ready to start some sort of war? Who's ready to become the youngest huntresses to singlehandedly stop a big bad guy?!" I said, my voice coming out fast and breathless. I looked excitedly to my team. "Yeah!" Yang matched my excitement, Weiss was less excited but was still on board. Blake was still happy we are along with her plan.

"we can't do anything tonight. We have school tomorrow, and he first day back is too important, but this weekend we can spend all night gathering information" Weiss said. Our teams voice of reason, we couldn't argue with Weiss. I nodded in agreement. She was right of course, but it was kind of a bummer. I was ready to go out tonight and explore the city.

The week went by at a crawl. Just about every student in the school was talking about the upcoming Dance. I didn't want to think about it, I don't like dressing up. Weiss and I spent a lot of time going over possible leads for gathering information about the White Fang. Weiss didn't like all of the random robberies taking place in the city. She decided the first thing to do was gather up the list of all the shops robbed in the last few months.

"doesn't the Schnee Dust company have a list of all of its clients. Can't you get access to it?" I asked. Weiss and I were alone in our room. We were preparing to go out and gather information today. "that could alert my Father, and I don't want him poking around our investigation" Weiss said in response. "what about the towers? They can give you access, but make it harder to trace. The firewalls put in place there allow anonymous access to everything" I point out. Weiss looks at me with a tilted head "how do you know so much about computers?" she asks.

I decided to tell her, it was a complicated and painful story, but we were teammates and she deserves to know everything about me. "back at Signal Academy, my uncle is a teacher. He is a great hunter, he's the one who taught me how to use a scythe. One day, after my mom's death he came to me and handed me a box. I contained all the research my mom did on tattoos. Most of them on restricted digital files. Back then I wanted to know everything about her. So I got to work, trying to figure out everything I could but most of it I couldn't get to. At least then, but after a few months I taught myself how to program and build backdoors into my mom's files. Most of it was stuff about legendary tattoos, of tattoos that could give great power. But it was all useless, it didn't make me miss her any less, nor did it answer why she spent so much time away and searching for tattoos" I tell Weiss, and hope she won't want to dive any deeper into the topic.

"I'd love to hear more about her one day. She seems like an amazing person" Weiss said, comforting me as I regained my emotions. "she was. you would have liked her. She was an amazing tattoo artist just like you" I said. Weiss seemed happy with my opening up to her, I felt it too. It was like another thing separating us had been lifted away. I caught myself looking into Weiss' eyes. Her ice blue eyes gazing back into my own. Something in the air seemed to vibrate in-between us, something warm and exciting. But also something I've never felt before, it was both scary and exciting.

"Ruby? Are you okay?" Weiss asked, throwing me from my thoughts. "Huh?" I said. "your face is getting all red, are you feeling okay?" Weiss asked, then moved her hand to my forehead. The touch of her palm made me realize how hot my face was, it felt like a bag of ice was placed on me where she touched. I flinched back involuntarily. Weiss looked hurt by my action, and for some reason that hurt me also. Almost without thought, I grabbed her hand in my own. "I'm fine. Just talking about my mom is difficult. It isn't your fault" I said, thinking of the likely reason for my weird feelings a moment ago.

"alright, are you ready to go? I'm not like Yang and Blake. I would rather not be out all night" Weiss says. She was talking about our plan to investigate the White Fang. Yang and Blake are going to be spying on a recruitment rally. Weiss and I are going to explore the city to try and find a pattern to all the robberies. "sounds good, I'm ready. Let's go" I say, jumping down off my bed I land and walk to the door. Weiss follows a moment later.

"alright Ruby, Wait here. I have to go in and access private files, and if you tag along it will slow down the whole process. It's just easier for me to go in and finishes this as fast as possible" Weiss said, but she sounded slightly sad. I felt her uneasiness and said "don't worry, I'll be there in a flash if you need me. All you have to do is call" I smile at her. Giving her my strength I push her slightly towards the door. She hesitantly went to the doors. But just before entering, she looked back to me. I gave her a big smile, she blushed at my actions then turned away and walked into the CCT.

I wanted to give Yang a call, I was worried about her and Blake. As I was pulling out my scroll, someone bumped into my arm sending my scroll skidding across the sidewalk. "Oum my gosh!" I yelled, and ran after my hopefully undamaged device. Reaching the bottom of a small set of stairs, I watched as a hand reached down and picked up my scroll. "I believe you dropped this" the oddly familiar voice said. I looked at the person.

"Penny!" I said in surprise. All of the questions I had for her sprang into my mind all at once. "What are you doing here? Where did you go after the night at the docks? What were those insane weapons?" I asked all these questions in rapid succession. Penny seemed at a loss for words. She put on a complicated fake smile and said "I think you have me mistaken for someone else"

'What? Of course I don't? something isn't right here. Penny is acting like someone is watching us' I thought, looking out the corner of my eyes, not wanting to look as if I were looking around. "Penny, is something the matter?" I asked, giving her a comforting look. Penny seemed not to feel good at my worried look, she seemed sad, as if it hurt her to talk with me.

"Come with me" Penny said, then grabbed my arm with relatively strong force. She guided me to a populated part of the area around the communication tower. I looked over to the large group of people gathered, a demonstration for a new combat robot was being shown off. The drone was twenty feet tall and looked like it could take on an army of Grimm. But the human shaped drones around the giant robot and the man giving the demonstration, looked more geared towards policing. The moment Penny spotted what I was looking at she froze. Fear caused her to grip my hand to the point of pain.

Two men dressed it the uniform of Atlas police noticed Penny. One spoke into the mic on his shoulder, while the other started to run to us yelling "Hay you" his tone wasn't the most comforting. 'there after Penny! I have to get her away from here' was the only thought that went through my mind. acting on instinct I yanked Penny to the back alleyways of near buildings. Just as we rounded a corner, Penny ran out ahead of me. She was faster than me when I didn't use my tattoo.

We ran down an alley that led to a semi-populated area, it was the perfect place to louse anybody who could be following us. The only thing we needed to do was cross a road. Penny was out in font and was in the road when I saw it. A truck was driving by at that moment. Before I could even think, I pushed my aura into my legs and used every ounce of power I had to propel myself towards Penny. I wanted to save her, I wanted desperately to push her out of the way. No matter the cost.

* * *

[Weiss pov]

"that Dolt! I can't believe she ran off so soon" I angrily whispered to myself as I walked through the CCT. I didn't know why watching Ruby run off after Penny bothered me so much, I was Ruby's friend longer than that girl. So why was it so hard to see her run after that orange haired girl? 'that doesn't matter right now. You need to focus, you're being watched by surveillance cameras. Father could look at this footage after learning I accessed Schnee information' I thought to myself.

I entered the elevator, not wanting anyone to join me. The voice that controls all CCT buildings spoke aloud "Hello. Where would you like to go?" the woman asked in a nice but natural tone. "the communications floor please" I answered back. "Wonderful, can you please hold you Scroll to the screen so I can know who you are?" the voice asked. I hesitated, allowing the computer to know my name so soon was risky, I would have even less time to access the information I needed. But the elevator wasn't moving, so it must need my Scroll information to continue. I took out my Scroll and held it up to the display. "thank you Ms. Schnee" the voice said.

Like a familiar pair of pants, hearing my name caused me to revert back to my old self, the person I pretended to be I front of my father. Doing my best to fake a smile I straightened my back, squared my shoulders, and held my head up high. I will get through this, it's to help my friends. 'Ruby' my mind whispered a word to me. Hearing her name was enough to cause a real smile to show up on my face. I didn't know why, but having Ruby on my mind gave me the confidence to go through this, even with the fear of my Father finding out.

The elevator dinged and opened. The room was mostly empty, only a few students were here talking to their friends and family. I walked up to the front desk. As I stood close to the desk, a woman appeared in hologram form. "hello, welcome to the transcontinental communication transmit center, is there anything I can help you with today?" the same voice from before asked. 'well, it's too late to turn back now' I thought. "yes, I would like to access my family's files in Atlas" I say. The hologram smiled and said "absolutely, if you could please make your way to terminal 3 ill activate it for you" the slightly robotic voice said

Sitting down at the computer, the screen lit up. the Vale logo revolving on the screen shifted to the Atlas one, and I plugged in my Scroll to allow me to access personal information. I began typing, using the guest ID as my username. I was allowed to download most of the information I was looking for, the shipping dates, the shipping routes. 'if this is public access, no wonder the degenerates of the White Fang could rob them so easily' I thought.

The easy part was over, now I needed specific shipment amounts of Dust and how much was sent to every Shop here in Vale. But right as I was about to click on the folder, my screen froze and the Schnee Dust Company logo took over the screen. "oh no" I said, my fear and dread taking over my heart.

"hello user, you are accessing private company information. We ask that you use proper identification in order to continue" a new robotic voice says. This was what I was trying to avoid, but I needed to continue. 'Ruby is counting on you' a wave of calm spread from that thought, my emotions stilled and my mind cleared. I placed my Scroll onto the information. A video conference took over the screen. I hoped with everything I had that it wasn't my Father on the other end of the line.

"Good day Ms. Schnee. How may I be of assistance today?" a woman asked after the video answered. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "if you could transfer the files I requested to my scroll, that would be great" I said, but I had to put on a show for this woman, if she asked my father for permission this plan would be a waste of time. "I find it inconvenient that I, of all people had to go through this annoyance" I said, my voice laced with false aggravation.

The woman looked panicked. Her job was to keep these files protected and out of the public eye, but I was a Schnee. Me asking for these files throws everything she knows out the window. "Ri-Right away Ms. Schnee" she typed away at her computer, but seemed to panic a little more as she pulled up my requested files. "Ms. Schnee. These files are privet company information, may I ask what they are for?" I smiled, knowing she was putty in my hands at this point. "A school project" and the files showed up on my Scroll. I quickly pulled my Scroll off the terminal and let the monitor.

* * *

[Ruby pov]

'Am I dead?' I asked the nothingness I was floating in. to my relief nothing answered. I remembered pushing Penny out of the way. 'so that means the truck hit me instead. How dumb can you get?' I again asked the pool of black I was floating in. at my memory, I felt the waters beneath me start to pull me in a direction. Not that I knew it was water, but it felt like water. The more I lay here and stronger I felt, it was like drinking a glass of cool water in the middle of a hot day. The stress and fatigue melting from my body. I knew I could lay here floating for all eternity.

"Ruby" a faint voice whispered. I didn't pay it much mind. "Ruby" the voice said again, it sounded oddly familiar. "Ruby, you can't leave me" the voice sounded sad, as if it was sad by my absence. "Please Ruby. You have to wake up" my mind started to get blurry, this voice was so familiar. I started to swim to this voice. The closer I got, the more my mind tried to know who it was. "Ruby" it called again. It sounded so musical, I wanted to hear more. The current started to go against me, pushing me back farther then I moved forward. But just as I was going to give up, the voice called again "keep going, you're almost there" I knew this voice now. With a exhausted yell I called out to the voice "WEISS!"

"Weiss!" I shot up from the ground, sitting up from where I was laying. I looked around in a panic, I was in a dark alleyway. The smell of the dumpster hit my nose like a semi. 'wait, I should be dead' I thought. Looking down at my body I saw no damage. Sure, my outfit was torn a little. But I was hit by a truck, right? 'what about Penny' I asked, but looking around I didn't see anyone. "Penny?" I called out

"I'm over here friend" Penny called out from behind the dumpster I was lying next to. "why are you behind that?" I asked first, my brain coming up with hundreds more questions immediately after. Penny seemed hesitant, like she was afraid to show herself to me. "Penny. What happened? I thought I got hit by that truck?" I asked. Penny looked away

"You did. You pushed me out of the way, and got hit in my place" Penny didn't make eye contact. But she looked up with sad eyes "Why would you do that? You were almost killed!" Penny said, almost breaking down into tears. I didn't know what to say. 'I almost died? But how, I look completely intact?' I thought. Penny answered "I saved you" was her almost inaudible reply. "how did you do that?" I asked. 'how could she save me from death. It has to be a tattoo, but such a tattoo has never been reported before' I thought, the only logical thing my mind could come up with.

"I-uh. Ruby, I'm not a normal girl" Penny finally said. I waited, I hoped she would continue, because I didn't know what to say to that. Penny stepped out and into the poor light of the alleyway "I'm not human. I'm a machine. The first ever android capable of having Aura and using the principle of tattoos" Penny explained. Penny held out her hands, where the skin on her fingers should have been there was now metal. It looked as if the skin was ripped away by something emerging from beneath the "flesh"

I had a mountain of questions, but my brain screamed out one "how did you save me?" I asked, still looking at her hands. Penny went rigid "Nanobots. My systems use them as a way to self-repair. So logically they could heal you too" Penny said. I looked into her eyes. I saw regret deep within them. "what aren't you telling me Penny?" I asked, trying not to sound afraid. Tears started to well in Penny's eyes. "Th-Their permanent. I can't communicate with them anymore. The Nanobots have fused with your current immune system" Penny said, almost breaking down into a fit of crying.

After some measure of self-control came back to the girl she asked "you hate me now, don't you?" I was a shocked. Of all the emotions I was feeling, hate was definitely not one. "what are you saying? Of course I don't. how could you ever think that?" I asked, looking again into Penny's pale green eyes. "Because I'm not human. Because I'm a machine. Because I turned you into some sort of hybrid robot, just like me" Penny said, growing sadder with every word. I looked at her like she lost her head "Penny, I don't care if you're not a human. I think it's awesome you're an android. And the Nanobots saved my life. You saved my life. Don't think for even a moment I would hate you" I said pulling my robot friend into a bear hug.

After we both stood there for a moment, I looked to Penny and asked "so how do you use tattoos if you're an android. Do you still get them on your skin?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. Penny seemed happy at my interest "Well my Aura flows through a number of tubes located in my limbs, then a tattoo is created using artificial flesh, then attached to an Aura tube. Then it's only a matter of directing the flow of Aura to that tattoo" Penny explained.

Ideas for upgrading Crescent Rose flew into my mind, but I pushed them aside. I was about to ask Penny something else, but my scroll went off 'amazing that survived getting hit by the truck with me' I thought. It was Weiss, and seeing her picture caused me to remember my experience in the nothingness. More importantly, how Weiss' voice caused me to fight my way out. I didn't know what that meant, but it gave me a warm feeling deep in my chest.

"Hello" I answered. "Ruby, get back here now. Yang and Blake are in trouble" and my world went blurry.


	10. Chapter 10 White Fang part 2

(Ruby pov)

As I was running, I realized how rude I just was to Penny. She saved my life, and I didn't even say a proper "thank you". But I will have to deal with that later, I needed to keep running. My tattoos were pulsing and singing with the power I was sending them. the pain they used to cause me was no longer there, I felt as if I could run for an even greater distance and not feel the repercussions.

I had to go faster, my friends. No, my family was in danger and I needed to be there. Every step I took, I tried to push more power into my legs. The tattoos were already at maximum output so the excess energy was just leaving my body and being absorbed back into the world.

Or so I thought. The energy was being held to the surface of my tattoo, the ink felt hot and almost vibrated with the energy. I couldn't look down at my legs and see, because they were not only covered by my pants, but also I needed to pay full attention to my running. I have never gone this fast before, the obstacles I had to dodge were coming at me almost as fast as I could think about them.

I made it back to the CCT in a record time. I knew I was about four miles away, so my faster speed surprised me. As I arrived to the entrance to the tower, Weiss was just walking out of the front doors. I spoke before she had time to fully realize I was in front of her "Weiss! What happened to Yang and Blake? Where are they?!" I asked, my worry and slight panic causing me to be louder then I intended.

Weiss looked at me, mentally telling me to calm down. "Ruby, take a breath. Yang just called and said they found a clue about why Tourchwick is working with the White Fang. But Blake had to go in alone. Yang said Blake wasn't answering her scroll, so she called me so we could be there to "bust her out" if anything happened" Weiss explained she said it slowly, but my brain couldn't focus on much of it. I was too worried about Blake.

"You said they were in trouble?" I asked. I wanted to get moving, I needed to know more about what's happening. Weiss looked down at her scroll, she swiped the screen a few times then held it up to my face. It was a text from Yang saying "Sup Ice queen you two should get over here. Things might go down soon" I looked at Weiss, puzzlement showing on my face. I asked Weiss "What is that supposed to mean?"

"That's why I called you, but after I spoke with you Yang called me and explained more of what was going on. She just wants us to be closer in case Blake needs to make a quick getaway" Weiss said. I could tell she was worried herself. But something else was in her voice, something that made me worry for her. I couldn't put my finger on it, and now wasn't the time to talk about it. We needed to get to Yang, if things did take a turn or the worse it would mean a world of difference if Weiss and I were there to help in a fight.

I picked up Weiss, she let out a small "Eep" but soon realized my intentions. I held her bridal style, an action I only did one other time but the unnatural lightness of her hit me again. 'she shouldn't be this light It doesn't make sense' I thought. For the second time I put the thought in the back of my mind. now was not the time to think about it, we had to get to Yang.

I quickly asked where Yang was, Weiss told me the location we all pre planed. With a burst of energy, I ran. My speed again surprised me, Weiss was so light she didn't even affect me. But it wasn't only that, my overall speed was faster. The blurriness that surrounded me when I ran was thicker now. Normally I could see well enough to move out of the way, but now I was having trouble. My vision was limited, but somehow I managed to maneuver my way through the city.

* * *

This time of day the sun was just starting to set. Within an hour the night life of Vale will start to fill the streets. I was already having to jump and swerve away from pedestrians, it worried me. If I had to make a fast getaway later, I wouldn't be able to use the sidewalks. I would have to use the highways and hope I can effectively maneuver through heavy traffic.

With a burst of rose petals, I appeared in front of a camped out Yang. Weiss surprisingly didn't scream in panic or fear at our recent speeds. Yang was about to jump up and start punching, but realized it was Weiss and I, so she sat back down on the bus stop bench. Weiss staggered and wobbled over to sit down next to Yang. I rushed over to support her and prevent her from falling. No words were said between us, we all understood the situation to an extent.

Wordlessly Yang pointed her chin to the abandoned looking warehouse across the street. I nodded and soundlessly moved to the side of the building, using my speed to move in place without any eyes being able to see me. I looked back to Yang and Weiss and saw the former pat the latter on the shoulder, then move to a spot where she could attack anyone without being hindered.

Moments later the faint lights in the building went out, a series of loud screams followed and masked wearing Faunas came running out of the warehouse. Their natural night vision allowing them to run in the night without fear of tripping.

The sound of a window shattering above me caught my attention. Blake came soring overhead and hit the ground rolling. As I looked at her, the wall behind me exploded. Rocks big and small rained down on me, I felt my arms and face being cut by the fast moving rubble. The giant mechanoid that shattered the wall stepped out into the night. It didn't notice me as I pushed heavy rocks off myself, it seemed to have eyes only for Blake.

As I pushed myself out of the pile of concrete and steel, I looked at myself. the cuts on my arms seemed deeper then they felt and my Aura didn't feel like it was draining as my skin knitted itself back together. It was like my body didn't need Aura to heal anymore. "Now is not the time to think about this Ruby" I told myself. I noticed the robot had already moved on in pursuit of its target. So I shook off the dust and ran after it, only having to use small amount of my tattoo to catch up to it.

As I got close, Yang and Weiss came up beside me. We were all following the Robot with determination, but staying back so we could surprise it when we had the opportunity. Blake didn't know we were there however, and she was running for her life. In her attempt to lose her pursuer, Blake moved to a busy roadway. She was expertly jumping from car to car, while the oversized robot was throwing cars and pushing its way through traffic.

"Time to make ourselves known, we can't let it harm the public anymore. Take it off the road!" I ordered my teammates. Who gave me a nod in return, Weiss and Yang took off. Yang used her gauntlets to shoot herself forward directly onto the back of the robot. Weiss paused for a moment and activated a Rune, allowing her to move almost as fast as me. I smiled at the plan that came to mind in that moment.

I looked Weiss in the eyes, and crossed my calf with a finger. Weiss nodded in understanding. We both rushed the mech, I deployed Crescent Rose and held it level with the bots Knee. Weiss rushed and held her rapier out in a fencing strike aimed at the robots opposite knee. As if it could see behind its back, the robot swatted away Weiss with a painful looking hit. But my attack managed to get passed its defenses. I hooked its leg and pulled it off course with my meager momentum.

Yang took that moment to start her attack. With a series of shotgun blasts, she punched the back of the robot preventing it from righting itself as my attack caused it to slam into a force barrier that lined the sides of the highway. But the power and size of the machine caused the barrier to fail and disappear. The result was all three of us falling to the ground with great force. Yang was thrown off and therefor wasn't crushed by the massive robot. I landed with a bit more grace, but still landed with a bone snapping thud.

"Well~ll. Good to see you again Red" I robotic voice said. It reminded me of Roman, and hearing his nickname for me gave it away. The pilot of this robot was Roman. That fact reinforced my resolve to stop it from attacking anyone. Blake and Weiss landed behind Roman, and made their way to pick up Yang. I shot up and called out "Freezer burn!" it was one of the codenames for our team based attacks.

Weiss and Yang jumped into action. Weiss struck the ground with her sword, activating a glyph laced with ice dust. Yang jumped up at that same moment, and used her fire dust shotgun rounds to punch the ground where Weiss froze. The reaction was instant and gave us the advantage. A massive amount of steam covered the entire field. It blinded Roman.

Or so I thought, the robot was too advanced for our trick. About fifteen laser scanners sprang out of the body, scanning the area and finding us, the attackers without fail. But it was restricted by its user, if we moved with precision we can take out its advantage. I called out into the fog "Checkmate!" knowing Weiss and Blake working together could maneuver around the robot taking out its sensors.

Without a word to one another, both Weiss and Blake sprang into the fray. Blake rushed forward first, blocking the initial barrage of bullets. Blake was the distraction for Weiss, who rushed in right behind Blake to stab the main sensor. With a thrust of her rapier, Weiss gave us the advantage. But in Roman's anger he punched Weiss off and sent her flying. Leaving Blake to face off alone.

Weiss was clever though, she was able to push out one more glyph and give Blake a much needed power up. A yellow blob of Aura was sent flying to Blake, hitting the ground and giving Blake a Haste boost. From what Blake has told me, while she is under the effects of the Haste Glyph time around her seems to slow down. She says it gives her much more time to think through a problem, and act on whatever solution she comes up with. For me the effect is completely different, but that's not important right now.

Roman sent out a dozen missiles, sending them all straight for Blake. But Blake was able to cut them all out of the sky using her new speed and precision. I knew now was the time to take down Roman, so I called out "Ladybug!" telling Blake it was time for us two to work together. I ran passed Blake as she was losing the effects of Weiss' Glyph. Using my speed, I hooked the underside of the robot with my scythe, the momentum sent me on an ark upward behind Roman. Blake meanwhile was slicing the shoulder joint in whatever weak points she could think of.

Noticing her efforts, I came down hard on the giant right arm of the robot, cutting cleanly though all the metal and wires. But our small victory was short lived, while me and Blake were standing next to each other, Roman managed to kick us with all the power his toy could manage. Both me and Blake were sent flying into Weiss, who was just starting to get up from her earlier hit. This sent us all into a tangled pile far away from the fighting.

All of the sudden, an anger laced roar sounded from just behind Roman. I knew instantly who it was. Yang was about to go berserk, seeing us all get taken out must have triggered her fighting tattoos. I knew she wasn't at full power yet, but Roman didn't know what it takes to power up my sister. In his stupidity, he smashed his remaining arm into the still form of Yang.

This sent Yang careening into concrete pillar after pillar. The impact would kill almost anyone. Blake was next to me and looked at me with pain in her eyes "It's okay. That's Yang's tattoo. The more damage she takes, the stronger her punches become" I explained. Blake seemed to calm down a little at my words, but I could still see she didn't like watching Yang get hit like that.

Yang walked calmly back in front of Roman's robot. She didn't even look concerned, she just stood there as if the fight was already over. Roman didn't seem to learn from his mistakes, he swung his robot arm again aiming for Yang. But this time Yang caught it with her bare hand. In a show of her power, Yang ripped the arm off the already damaged mech.

I guess Roman saw the futility of continuing the fight while in the robot, the top of it exploded off and he jumped out of what I assumed was the cockpit. Unlike us, he didn't even look tired just frustrated by his broken toy. He turned to face us, a look promising retribution for our small victory. He then noticed Yang walking towards him, she looked ready to beat him to death right there.

But as soon as my sister got close, a short girl jumped from out of nowhere and stood next to Roman. She calmly opened her umbrella, and winked at Yang. Then something truly confusing happened. Yang punched the new girl, then the two of them, that is Roman and the new girl, exploded in a shower of fake broken glass. Yang was enraged by this, her tattoos sometimes clouded her thinking when she got too angry. But with a final roar of frustration she burned off the last of her power. Then passed out right where she was standing. Blake ran over and held her, it was almost unbelievable how quickly it ended.

* * *

Weiss pov

After learning about Roman, his association with the White Fang, and Roman's new henchman or henchwoman, Blake has become even more obsessed with finding out what the White Fang are up to. She's constantly in the library looking up news articles, writing down everything in a notebook. Then reading that notebook over and over again trying to find something she missed. Yang has been keeping a close eye on her, making sure she eats and carrying her to the room whenever she passes out at the computer. I think it's her "big sister" instincts kicking in.

Yang came into the room where I was laying down after class, she had a look of deep uneasiness on her face as she sat on Blake's bed across from me. I knew she was going to wait for me to speak first, so I did. "It's about Blake. Right?" I asked. Yang jumped at my sudden outburst, she must not have expected me to speak so soon. I sat up and hung my feet off the side of my bed, I wanted to meet her eyes on an equal level. This conversation could be important to our team.

"I'm worried about Blake. She's on a warpath, the White Fang is all she can think about. It seems our plan to help her the other day only led to her becoming more obsessed. Your information about how most of the Dust robberies being here in Vale, it's made her want to go out and investigate why. Plus, I think when she went to that Faunus rally, the fact that Roman was leading them is really bothering her. She needs a break. I need your and Ruby's help in trying to talk her into going to the dance" Yang said.

"I'll go talk to Ruby. We can all talk to her tonight. Bring Blake to the room and we can try to talk some reason into her" I said. Yang nodded and left the room, most likely to go back to watching Blake in the library.

I decided to go look for Ruby, our old talks about tattoos were still heavy in my mind. she gave me the idea for sealing an old combat bot in my new tattoo. But the usefulness would be uncertain at best. The idea of me being able to control a robot through tattoo power was unknown to the world. I still haven't decided whether or not I would seal the robot, but I don't think I'll need any new powers for the Vital festival. So for now at least, I think I'll manage with my current tattoos.

* * *

Ruby unsurprisingly was in the place I wanted to visit. The area of the school dedicated to giving and receiving tattoos. With the upcoming world festival, a few big names in the tattoo world were here to show off their skill with a needle. I saw Ruby at a new arrivals tent, she was looking through the man's tattoo book. She probably only wanted to look, but the man seemed to be expecting her to get one of his tattoos.

"see anything you like Dolt?" I asked my partner. Ruby whirled around and smiled at me, it was such a sweet gesture, I found myself lost in the look of happiness Ruby was projecting to me. 'Has anyone ever been this genuinely happy to see me?' I asked myself. the answer was no, but seeing Ruby made me forget that fact. She, out of everyone I've ever known actually smiles when seeing me. It was something I never bothered to notice before.

Ruby grabbed the thick book she was looking at a moment ago and held it in my face. "look at this one. It gives you eyes that can see like a Hawk!" she explained with eagerness. I thought about the benefits of that. I said aloud "That could prove useful, with you being our teams long range sniper"

Ruby scrunched up her nose in thought. The word 'Cute' rang through my mind, but I pushed it away from the surface. "Huh, I guess you're right about that. But that's not what I was thinking for its usefulness. I was looking for something to help me when I'm running, you know. something to prevent the world from going blurry. I almost tripped last night while carrying you, I think the blurriness is getting worse or I'm somehow speeding up" Ruby explained to me.

Her thinking was pretty sensible. I ignored the part where she could have injured us both. But her thinking about giving her eyes an upgrade was a good idea. I was about to give her the "thumbs up" on her plan, when a part of my brain said not to trust this guy. I looked at his setup a little closer, without making it look like I was inspecting the man's equipment, people tend to freak out if you pry into their tattoo life.

As I looked at the equipment this guy had, I was almost impressed. The level of money he put into his craft was almost on pare with mine. Sure my tattoo gun was made with much more uselessly high end metals, but the maker of the gun was what mattered. I was just about to tell Ruby to get the tattoo, when out of the corner of my eye I noticed something off.

The Dust vials this man had were not from a company I was familiar with. I knew the Schnee Dust company wasn't the only company that sold Dust. But these had a mark I've never seen, it was a red sideways eye. The label was solid black with no other markings besides the red eye. 'Black market Dust? I can't let Ruby get a tattoo here. The risk of that dust being refined incorrectly is too high' I thought. I expertly didn't let this revelation show on my face, years of being a public figure were actually being useful.

"Ruby, I think I want to attach a flamethrower to my sword. Would you mind helping me install it?" I asked her. The man seemed confused at my random outburst, but Ruby reacted exactly how I hoped. With a loud "Eeepp!" Ruby grabbed me and the world went blurry. I forced myself to pay attention this time, I kept my eyes open as she ran using her tattoos. The blurriness was really bad, I couldn't even comprehend the objects that were whizzing by, was that a person? Was that a tree? It was impossible to tell. I was amazed Ruby could maneuver out of the way in time.

In no time, I was again standing. But unlike where I once was. Now I was inside, the school's armory to be precise about my current location. Ruby was standing in front of me, looking eagerly at me. She was waiting for me to hand over my sword so she could install the flamethrower, which I really didn't want. "Look, Ruby. I don't actually want a flamethrower. That was just a lie so I could get you away from that man without raising his suspicions" I explained to her. My partners face fell instantly, she must have either really wanted that tattoo, or really wanted to mess with my weapon.

"Weiss, I know you're a great tattoo artist. But I'm sure he would have done just fine" Ruby said. She sounded as if she were comforting me. It was almost like she thought I was. Jealous? Was she out of her mind, why in Oum's name would I be jealous? "Ruby Rose. Why do you think I pulled you away from that tattoo artist?" I asked sounding a little annoyed. The face Ruby now gave me was one of nervous unease. 'I'm starting to get really good at spotting the little things when it comes to Ruby' I thought with a small measure of pride.

While poking her fingers together Ruby said "W-Well, you and me are best friends. I thought that you might have been hurt if I betrayed you in some way by getting a tattoo from someone else. After all, I already technically gave you a tattoo. I thought you might have been a little bit jealous of someone else giving me a tattoo before you did"

After hearing her spell it out like that, I couldn't help but think she was right. Maybe I really did feel some sort debt I felt I owed. That was ridiculous of course, but I couldn't deny it fully. Now that the idea was in my mind, I really did want to tattoo my friend. But not because of some silly debt, but because I felt it was my job as her friend, teammate, partner, whatever. I also had to clear up this absurd notion of me being jealous.

"Ruby, that's stupid. It's your body, your skin. You may get whatever tattoo, by whoever, whenever. I just didn't want you to get one from him. If you were more observant like I, then you would have noticed an off market supply of dust he was using" I waited for her to react. She did so within seconds. Her face went as red as her cape and she lowered her head in embarrassment. Without any thought, I reached out and put my hands under her face. Cupping the adorableness that was my partner. I lifted her head so she was looking me in the eyes.

"Now that you went ahead and told me I owed you a tattoo in return for the one you gave me. Why don't we go to our room and pick out one that will solve that eye problem completely, instead of one that will only help a little. I think I have an idea for it" I said giving her the most reassuring smile I've ever given to anyone. I didn't know what my face must have looked like, but it seemed to cheer Ruby up and we headed to our room, this time holding hands while walking at a normal pace.

* * *

(abra kadabra location change) Team RWBY dorm

The moment Ruby and I entered our room, she instantly grabbed all my tattoo books and spread them all across my bed. Eagerly waiting for me to talk about my plans. 'she's so adorable when she looks at me with her puppy dog eyes' I thought. Shaking my head to dispel whatever caused my mind to think that, I looked for one of my favorite books on tattoos. High order Glyphs vol 7. I grabbed it from my bed and gestured for Ruby to make the rest go away. As I was flipping through the pages Ruby was franticly putting the books back onto our rooms overflowing bookshelf.

"this is the one. Time rotation. It's the opposing power to my Time dilation tattoos. As you know one of my tattoos are the lost Time dilation Glyphs. They allow me, or whoever I cast them on to perceive time as if it were slowed down. These however, Time Rotation, allow someone to speed up the movement of time in relevance to the mind. it can't actually control time just how fast your brain can think. It's far more complex once you get into the science and chemistry, but trust me" I dove right into the lesson about my idea.

Ruby raised her hand as if this was a classroom. I gave her a nod, playing along with the teacher roll. "Weiss, I already move insanely fast. Why would making me faster help?" Ruby asked. I smiled, she asked the perfect question.

"Ahh, you seem to not fully understand what happens when an object moves at a high rate of speed. Velocity is relevant to the motion of the singular object moving. On the outside, I see you as a blur. In turn you see me as a blur. If I use my Time dilation, I would be able to slow you down according to my brain. But it would have the opposite effect on you. You would have you mind working at a slow rate, but your body would remain the same. Thus it would prevent you from being able to react to anything at that speed" I explained, I was really enjoying this teaching thing. I felt like I was helping Ruby grow as a person, becoming a better huntress.

"so that's why when you cast the Haste Glyph on me I lose all control over my running tattoos?" Ruby asked, again playing right into my lesson with another perfect question.

"that's what gave me the idea to research why that was happening. I am your partner, I want to help any way I can. The science is simple if I explain it like this. When you run fast, your body is moving faster than your brain. This tattoo will make your brain keep up with your speed by making your mind think as fast as your moving. But when you're not running, time will appear to be moving too fast to see and you won't be able to keep up. so don't use it when you're not running" I finished my lesson. Ruby seemed just as eager now as when we walked into the room.

"That all sounds good and right. Let's give it a go!" Ruby said. Just like that, full trust in my idea? No weariness, no apprehension it won't work how I think it will? "you're willing to trust me so easily. No fear it won't work how I described it?" I asked, worried she was too confident in my ability's.

Ruby looked at me with a face full of confusion "Of course I trust you. I trust you with my life. If you think it will help, then I have no reason to think otherwise" Ruby said all that with a completely trusting look in her eyes. And to say she trusted her life in my hands, I know were partners at a combat school. But the way she said it, it was like I was as important to her as Yang. As her family.

I was family to her. The realization of that seemingly small fact was so much I was almost taken to my knees by its emotional weight. It has been so long, longer then I can remember, since I've felt the bond of family. I was taken out from my emotional chaos by a small strong force squeezing my midsection. Looking down I saw Ruby hugging me. "Please don't cry. I'm sorry, whatever I said to make you upset. I'm sorry" Ruby jabbered out. 'what does she mean stop crying?' I thought to myself. until I felt my face, sure enough, I had tears running out of my eyes.

"Ruby" I managed to say aloud, but was stopped when her hug squeezed tighter. I tried again "Ruby, you didn't say anything wrong. I've just never had anyone like you in my life. The realization of you actually caring about me, and the trust you give me. It overwhelmed me for a moment. But you can let go now. I'm okay" I said, meaning every word.

Pulling myself out of her grasp, I walked over to my tattoo setup and began the long process of cleaning and mixing all the tools and dust I would require. I remembered what Yang said and told Ruby about our need to talk to Blake. She agreed, and we both knew it would help Blake to relax a little by going to the Dance. We figured Yang would let us know when it was time to talk so we put it out of our minds for the moment. Ruby was surprisingly quiet the whole time I was working, just watching me assemble my tools and mix the dust according to the book. I asked where she wanted the tattoo.

"doesn't it have to be in a certain place?" she asked back. I shook my head no. I liked tattoos that weren't bound by the location of the body. It was more artistic that way. "then how about my stomach?" Ruby said, uncertain. I gave her the "are you sure" look. She considered a moment, then nodded her agreement.

* * *

The tattoo was simple and elegant at a glance. A simple gear that almost looked like it was rotating, with two smaller gears resting inside the large outer one. hidden in the outer gear were markings that allowed the tattoo to work, but overall it looked like a set of clockwork gears sitting just above Ruby's bellybutton. They were also as red and shiny as Ruby's namesake. I am proud to say they look like their actually cut from the gemstone itself.

We made our way to the combat stage, Ruby couldn't wait another second to test her new tattoo. From what she told me after the fact, at least what I could understand through the excited screaming. The tattoo was a success. It sped up her mind as fast as her body was moving. She said it was like she wasn't even using her leg tattoos, except that everything around her was moving so slowly. This almost started a whole debate about how time is relevant, and just because the tattoo speeds up time doesn't mean time will move faster while she's running. But Yang texting us saying she brought Blake to the room stopped us from getting into it.

Once we got back into the room, I could feel the tense atmosphere. Blake was sitting on her bed with a look that could turn Yang to stone. Yang was also sitting on Blake's bed but closer to the window, perhaps to prevent her from jumping out of it again. Ruby and my arrival didn't go unnoticed by Blake. She must have sensed an attack and hunched her shoulders so she would be ready for anything.

"Blake, we need to talk to you" Yang started. She sounded calm, which is weird for her. "we understand that the resent information about the White Fang is bothering you. But you're taking the investigation to hard" Yang continued to explain. Blake raised her head up in defiance, but the bruises under her eyes gave away her lack of sleep and overall weariness so the defiant effect was lost. "How would any of you understand? You haven't even tried to look for more information. You have already continued on with your lives. I'm the only one who's still trying to figure out why Roman is leading the White Fang" Blake shot back.

"are you even hearing yourself?!" I yelled in anger. "you're right. We're not working ourselves to death trying to find information. But I have still put a lot of effort into trying to find the White Fang's base of operations" I took a moment to let that sink in "But this has been the first time I've seen you in days. So how exactly is that helping the team? Blake, you aren't in any shape to fight, you aren't in ant shape to even stand. How do you expect to stop the White Fang?" I continued to argue with Blake.

"oh and so? What have you found?" Blake spat at me, her voice was full of anger and hate. I look a deep calming breath and sat back down on my bed, I didn't even realize I stood up. Ruby's hand found mine and I instantly felt worlds better. "I'll tell you. But you have to Promise to take a break. You have to go to the dance this weekend" I said. Leaving no room for argument.

"What? That's ridiculous. Tell me this instant" Blake argued back. I gave her my 'Ice look' as Yang described it. After a few moments of Blake holding my stare, she broke away. "Fine. I'll go to the stupid dance. but only if what you have is important" Blake said. I knew I had her, my information gathering skills outweighed anyone's.

"I know where the White Fang is located" I said with pride dripping off every word.


End file.
